Trouble Finds You
by Jack Barrington
Summary: Set after the House of Wolves. Follow a new and sometimes eccentric female human Hunter named Tikva and her friends as she tries to find her place among the Guardians, gets into crazy adventures across the solar system, and plays lots of soccer!
1. Chapter 1: Of Waffles and Edges

**Chapter 1: Of Waffles and Edges**

 _Hunters stalk the wilderness beyond the City, harnessing the Light to reclaim the secrets of our lost worlds. They are daring scouts and stealthy killers, expert with knives and precision weapons. Hunters blaze their own trails and write their own laws._

At least, that's what Tikva had been told almost as soon as she had, in the span of 24 hours-

One, been magically resurrected from centuries of death by a talking, one-eyed flying cube of some kind in the middle of a parking lot in what used to be Russia.

Two, killed dozens of bizarre four armed creatures called "the Fallen" with a sniper rifle she'd never remembered seeing in her life, much less using, all before she'd ever been able to form words to wonder what was happening.

Three, talked to an enigmatic man called the Speaker who knew her name even when she didn't, but then claimed he couldn't explain much about what was going on.

Only that the Traveler, a giant floating ball of some kind, was facing off against something called the Darkness, and that the Traveler had sacrificed itself to protect the Last City of humanity and was dying. However, recently it had started recovering its Light after the destruction of something called the Black Garden on Mars thanks to the efforts of the heroic Guardians, of which she was now a part.

 _Thanks for making me even more confused than when I'd started_ , she'd scoffed in her head.

And fourth, but certainly not least, been inducted as a Hunter by Cayde-6, an android called an Exo who called himself the Hunter Vanguard, and who gave her said spiel. Once he'd said that, and placed his blue metallic hands on her shoulder, within the swirling vortex of her emotions, one rose to the surface- joy! Finally, something was underneath Tikva's feet and she could stand tall. Countless adventures awaited her, and in time, she hoped she would earn a place in this beautiful Tower.

As a human being standing defiantly against utter extinction. As a Hunter, slicing through enemies like they were mere leaves on the wind. And as a Guardian, hopefully in time one among many great warriors whose names would be passed down through legend forever.

But no sooner had she left his cybernetic gaze or had time to process all this than the hard, gruff Lord Shaxx had stormed in and summarily dragged her into something he called the Crucible. A trial by fire for all new Guardians, he'd said as he told her to set her ship's coordinates for something called the Twilight Gap, just outside the City. Even behind that inscrutable mask, she could tell that his tone meant that he wasn't asking.

A dozen torturous battles in the Crucible later, she hadn't gotten a single kill. Not only was she nowhere close to becoming even a passable Hunter, she was wondering whether it would have been better for everybody if she had been left to rot in that parking lot.

This thought haunted Tikva as she peeked around the corner of a nearly rusted through metal column, gripping her auto rifle until the weapon parts squealed. Gunfire and pained cries echoed in the distance, and so it appeared she was safe for the moment. Letting out all her air in one gasp, she pushed her legs to their limits dashing towards what she thought was the next safe spot.

 _Big mista-_ , she thought too late as a sniper shot her in the head from across the clearing and she dissolved into the motes of light that weaved through her corpse.

The next time Tikva woke, she was slumped next to a box of special ammo for her shotgun in a corner somewhere. Without even a moment's hesitation she ripped the cover off the box and loaded new shells in her empty chamber, jamming the rest into her belt. Then she backed herself into the corner and crouched, wildly swinging between entrances to make sure they were covered, her finger twitching over the trigger as she hyperventilated.

One minute later, however, a deranged cry of "I AM THE EPIC WAFFLE!" soared over her head, along with a light blue blur from the left entrance that coalesced into an single bright star. Her finger slammed on the trigger but the Bladedancer knife attack landing in her chest caused her buckshot to miss as she dissolved. Again. This time, as her thoughts faded and he zipped away shouting that inane phrase, she didn't take it too personally, since this Hunter had been trapped in the Vault of Glass for a year and it had stolen his mind to such a degree that the Tower's scholars had spent the past few months trying to decipher any meaning behind that one phrase. Still, though, it sucked to lose when she'd once again thought she was in control of the situation.

For the rest of the battle, she never got more than a minute to live before being shot, stabbed, punched, kicked, thrown into the valley below, and otherwise brutally murdered in too many ways for her stressed and adrenaline pickled mind to comprehend at the moment.

"The Crucible is not a challenge to be taken lightly," said Lord Shaxx disapprovingly when her team lost. She held in an angry scream, then stormed off to her ship to stew before she would be dragged back to the Tower.

"So, how did it go?" the high pitched and yet feminine voice of Tikva's Ghost chirped at her.

Tikva's head thudded against the holographic control screen for her ship, then rested there while all the other cells in her body deflated. "I got killed thirteen times in a row today."

"Well, that's better than yesterday, when you were killed fifteen times in a row. I think you should consider that an improvement."

"Shut up."

"Shutting up," the Ghost murmured before shutting down.

Tikva attempted to rest her weary eyes, thinking the little robot had it easy. But the low droning hum of her ship traveling faster than light, the rattle of its rivets and metal plates attempting to keep themselves together after hundreds of years of atrophy, and the odd vinegar stench from the dead Fallen that had attempted to board her ship meant she even failed at this simple task. (The alien blood hadn't been entirely scrubbed out of the hull either, despite the fact that Tikva had sent the ship in to the cleaning bots multiple times.)

As a result, she looked more disheveled than even some of the most battle scarred Guardians when she arrived in the Tower Hangar and dropped off her ship with the Shipwright. She attempted to limp herself over to Traveler's Walk, where the Hall of Guardians (and the sleeping quarters contained therein) was, but ended up collapsing on her back on the expertly manicured grass in Tower Watch just in front of the Cryptarch's booth, her helmet rolling next to her feet.

The biting winter wind from high over the mountains bombarding her nose, the refreshing dew on her pale skin and brown hair, and her own restless hands rubbing along the rough edges of the grass injected new vitality now. Tikva sat up, stretched her arms to either side and yawned, then gasped in at the view in front of her, as she had many times before. The City was a haphazardly stitched together quilt of patched up skyscrapers and shanty towns teeming with traffic, a few million remaining free humans scrabbling across its surface. The sun towered over the sky, but even it was dwarfed by the hovering Traveler. Even though large chunks on the bottom of this mysterious sphere that had enlightened humanity, no doubt due to damage from the forces of the Darkness, the rest of it was almost supernaturally rounded and polished.

To think that an energy was contained within this structure that had literally breathed new life into her filled Tikva with gratitude. She didn't think that the Traveler was a god as so many of her fellow Guardians believed, but she understood why they did. Regardless she was always impressed by the Speaker's lectures on subjects like this one that were well attended by reverent Guardians, but never felt like preaching, instead filling Tikva's mind with questions that challenged her slowly growing perspective on this world she'd been thrusted into.

But each and every time she was reinvigorated like this, the Crucible took the wind out of her sails. And then she would go back home, recharge, and then do it all over again. She felt more trapped now than all the centuries she'd spent dead. If she was going to live, Tikva finally decided, she wanted to live, dammit. And if Lord Shaxx didn't understand why she didn't want to be a part of his meat grinder any more, then he could just shove it.

She noticed the metallic spires jutting out from the Tower that used to divide the different docking zones for Guardian ships that rushed in from all over the solar system. Then she reached out to touch one of them, and realized that no matter how she pushed, it wouldn't bend.

So Tikva straddled the fence and started pushing on it with one of her feet, and then put both feet on it while supporting her weight with her hands. One hand left the safety of the railing, the other squeezing it with all her might as her legs struggled to find their balance. Above her were thousands of ships criss crossing the skies that threatened to dock and push her off into the several thousand feet worth of empty air between her and the unyielding concrete of the City below.

"Yeah!" Tikva cried as she let. She'd finally found her footing. Now it was time to enjoy her little victory- until the Crucible would bring her back down tomorrow, at least. She started to sit down on the very precipice, and contemplated lying down and looking up at the endless blue dome hanging over her, wondering what it would finally be like to pierce it and venture out not just beyond the City or Old Russia, but past the dead Earth itself. Soon she would want more than that, but again, she was content to close her eyes and enjoy this adventure for now.

Tikva suddenly started to not enjoy it, however, when something small and round, most likely one of those "soccer" balls that all the Guardians enjoyed kicking around. Normally, if one of them flew off the tower, it wouldn't hit much of anything. She realized that this ball didn't hit much as she toppled off the Tower. Nobody seemed to notice or call out for help, and once she hit the bottom, she'd be in so many pieces that even her Ghost wouldn't be able to put her back together again with all the Light the Traveler could muster.

As what little of her life she could remember zipped through her memory, structures and ships rushing forward at an equally fast pace, Tikva wondered what they'd say if they found her body and sent it, along with countless others, out into a burial plot just undereath the Traveler in a funerary escape pod.

 _We now send off Ti...Tia...what was her name again? Never mind. Anyway, she was that random woman who had no friends, was never a very good Hunter, and died not in glorious combat giving her all in service to the Traveler, but by idiotically falling off the edge of the Tower. Next!_

Tikva almost had to laugh, even though she was terrified. Maybe she should've just given in to the insanity of her situation like that waffle guy.

Instead of being dashed against a skyscraper, Tikva felt the same snow and scrabbly brush on her face that she'd clawed her way out of when she was reborn.

"You gave me quite a fright, Guardian!" her Ghost whirred after trasmatting her away. "What were you up to?"

"Trying new things," Tikva said beneath the helmet that slowly enveloped her head.

"It would appear that trouble finds you wherever you go, Guardian," the Ghost said with a disapproving shake of its chassis.

"Well, if I have bad luck like I think you're saying, then I think I should just embrace it from now on, don't you?"

"It took a lot of light out of me to save you that time. Maybe you should consider trying less lethal things once we get back to the Tower. You should call down your Sparrow and get us back to the Tower before your next scheduled fight in the Crucible tomorrow, or you'll get in a lot of trouble from Cayde-6 and Lord Shaxx."

"Oh, right, I keep forgetting I have that thing. Thanks for reminding me," Tikva said, slapping her forehead before calling the bike out of thin air, lying forward on it, and strapping her feet into the pedals behind her. "But we're not going back to the Tower yet, and definitely not going back to the Crucible."

"Then where are we going?"

"To try new things," Tikva said again with a sly and smart aleck tone that her robot had learned to endure over the past few weeks.

"Why do I have a feeling that I don't get a say in this matter?" the Ghost warbled in despair.

Any concerns the Ghost was able to voice after that were silenced beneath the Guardian's ecstatic yells as the Sparrow hurtled along, making the wilds of Old Russia its playground.


	2. Chapter 2: The Causeway

**Chapter 2: The Causeway**

"Now I really regret telling you about the Sparroooow!" Tikva's Ghost cried telepathically within the Hunter's mind as the two of them continued to barrel over the desolate steppes of the Cosmodrome.

The Ghost had been warned.

When this new Ghost had been created due to the influx of new Light into the Traveler after the Black Garden, it had been told by the Speaker that not only might it take centuries to find a compatible Guardian, but that this Guardian, like all newborns, might be...off kilter. Almost like a child, who would do anything the minute they were told it was off limits.

Fortunately, it hadn't taken centuries to find the Guardian. But perhaps it should have. And this was what the Ghost got for not listening.

"Too late! Now try to enjoy yourself for once!" Tikva laughed. As she said this, she made a game of skidding the foot straps of her Sparrow in any bare snow she could find, and so far she was winning.

So far she hadn't found any interesting missions or other heroic things to do, but it didn't matter for right now. Making death defying turns, feeling the wind pushed aside by her helmet, and closing her eyes and realizing she could pilot the craft simply by trusting an instinct that guided her every move was incredible. Even more intoxicating to her, in fact, than the distilled spirit blooms served by Eris Morn when she tended bar in the Shipyards on weekends for extra glimmer. And this experience wouldn't give her a headache in the morning, unlike the alcohol or Eris's gloomy stories about the horrifying death of her entire Raid Group that she told repeatedly as black goop streaked down her eyes.

* * *

Spinmetal had always been fascinating to the young Dreg. It always shimmered in the light in a way that he found appealing. If only he had something more than the bone of one of the local animals dipped in a plant based ink to write with and a flat rock to write on at this moment. But he knew he had to make do as he set to work. He had found drawing instruments on a dead Awoken during that nasty business with the Reef, and considered wearing them on his ears until he realized what they were for. Then he slowly gained an appreciation for the peculiar purplish glow of the sun filtered through the asteroids and drifting ships in the Reef, and felt a need to draw it.

However, once he proudly showed the other Dregs in his group his drawing, they laughed at him for it and devoured it like barbarians. Then they placed a human helmet on him while he was sleeping and had a ball as a shank attempted to shoot him.

He'd only barely made it out alive by jamming his instruments into the weak points in the shank's armor, and then his Captain made him put all 57,683 parts of the machine back together by hand. He'd missed the next day's battle. Served them right when they fought against the Prince of the Reef's Crows without him and were found in various pieces minutes later.

His new squad actually treated him pretty nicely by comparison. The young Dreg suspected that maybe the reason for this was that, other than fighting roaming Guardians and packs of Hive here and there, there wasn't much if anything to do, so they could afford to relax. There had been all that excitement of infighting between the Houses of the Fallen, but that died down the minute the Wolves were hunted to exinction. As of this moment, they were looting the Rocketyards looking for old devices that they could play (and likely shock each other for laughs) with. He'd declined, and they understood without asking why. However, he still looked over his shoulder as he started drawing a still life of the spinmetal bush, not wanting them to look at him differently.

As he did so, he noticed a human hurtling down the slope on one of those ridiculous two horned beasts they were so fond of riding at unreasonable speeds. He managed to jump out of the way, and then suddenly the human and its beast went flying through the air as they both screamed.

What captured his immediate attention, though, was that the spinmetal bush was gone, and what's more, a thick, ugly black line was drawn through his still life from when his hand was knocked back, so it was unusable.

The Dreg ripped up his drawing and sobbed into the snow at the injustice of this world.

* * *

It took several minutes for Tikva to open her eyes after she hit the spinmetal plant and her Sparrow flipped. When she did, her helmet's visor was entirely obscured by snow and bits of the silver bush. Every muscle in the young Hunter's body wanted to murder her from the inside out, and she suspected that her bones were now made of toothpicks. Broken ones, to be precise.

The first thing she saw when she flipped over onto her back was the flaming wreckage of her Sparrow, followed by her Ghost looking down at her. For a robot with one eye that always eerily stared into the distance, it seemed pretty smug.

"Mmph mmph mmph mmph," Tikva said with a muffled anger as the voice processor for her helmet started slowly repairing itself while her shield attended to her wounds. "And furthermore, don't you dare say you told me so!"

"You said it, not me," the Ghost chirped in what Tikva swore, especially with the Ghost's feminine tone, was the same "mother knows best" attitude as those of organic mothers.

"Well, you know what? Maybe you're right, and I'm just too stupid and reckless to really be a Guardian- or much of anything really," Tikva groaned.

"I never said that," the Ghost tried to reassure her. But once the robot said, "Besides, every great Guardian was once an awkward newborn who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn," Tikva glowered at it, thinking that this was a strange way of comforting her.

"Oh, but you've always thought that every time you nag me for doing something completely stupid, haven't you? I'm not like the others, and you know it. I'll never be anything other than a newborn, or even a mediocre newborn at that. They made a mistake assigning you to me."

Suddenly, a rogue awkward pause attacked and took the two of them hostage.

"So, how about that weather? Clear blue skies with a 100% chance of murderous aliens," the Ghost said, attempting to inject the kind of humor her Guardian liked into the situation.

"Good, good," Tikva smiled. "Look, that- what I said earlier- that was uncalled for. You're the only thing that really cares about me right now. It's just been a long couple of weeks and I've been hitting my head against a wall this whole time."

"I understand. Well, maybe I don't entirely, since I don't have a head nor do I tend to hit it against walls. It's what you call a figure of speech, so never mind," the Ghost whispered. The attempt at empathy was appreciated and earned a smile.

* * *

Then it continued, "So you're not good at the Crucible, or driving a Sparrow, or putting one foot in front of the other, or..."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I know the Traveler picked you, picked us, for a reason. You may not think much of yourself, Tikva, but I do think you have it within you to do great things. You just have to start with the small things first. And maybe focus on one train of thought for more than five minutes."

"Thank you," Tikva sighed as she laid back on the snow as she absorbed what the Ghost was saying. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something that might be helpful.

"Speaking of small things," she murmured after trying to decipher the meaning of the small cylinder with a green blinking light at the end of it for the better part of five minutes, "what exactly is that?"

After the Ghost scanned the mysterious item, it replied, "This is a Tower beacon. Sometimes people will need you to complete small missions for them."

"Is this something that you have to be an established Guardian to do?" she wondered.

"Not necessarily."

"So, this could be a way for me to build up some reputation? To finally...do something right? Maybe if I do enough of these, I won't have to go into the Crucible any more!"

"Perhaps. But there's only one way to find out," the Ghost said. "Go on, pick it up!"

What Tikva heard upon picking up this beacon was an automated recording. To her, it sounded like, "Greetings, Guardian. The Future War Cult needs you to blah blah blah blah blah, then yadda yadda yadda, and finally blah. Got it? Good. We'll be in touch."

"What was all that, in English?" Tikva wondered as she struggled not to fall asleep.

"They need you to go to a place, and then have me scan a thing," her Ghost said. "I wasn't paying much attention either."

"Then why didn't they just say that from the start?"

"You can take that question up with them back at the Tower, I suppose."

Tikva raised her hand to summon another Sparrow, but the Ghost admonished her, "You got lucky that the explosion from the first Sparrow didn't send a whole army of Fallen or Hive on your scent. Do you really want to take your chances with driving again?"

"Fair enough," Tikva said. "Never fear, future something or other! I will help you in your time of dire need!"

* * *

Fifteen minutes of wandering around Old Russia later...

"Oh, I'm sure this thing someone wants us to scan for no clear reason is around here somewhere," Tikva muttered as she attempted to study a crude map she drew on her armor.

* * *

Thirty more minutes of wandering around Old Russia later...

"Is this the Lunar Complex or the Terrestrial Complex?"

"Lunar."

"Again?! Why do I keep ending up here? What is this, the second time I've gotten lost?"

"Third."

"That was a rhetorical question!"

* * *

One more hour of wandering Old Russia later...

"I will do anything..." Tikva groaned and sank to her knees in the snow, "just PLEASE let me find a goddamned map of Old Russia! How am I supposed to find anything when every rusted building and snow capped cliff looks exactly the same?!"

"Well, there is something new nearby," her Ghost chirped.

"Oh, you're right. I still haven't searched this place. If I can't find anything that looks interesting enough to scan on a giant ship that somehow ended up in the middle of Russia, then I'll just give up and stay in the Crucible forever."

Soon, Tikva double jumped up on to the top deck. On the side of a nearby wall was a drawing of a male figure with X's over its eyes surrounded by a semicircle of some kind. Below that was a series of scrawled characters, possibly Fallen in origin, from what Tikva remembered from a book she'd read about the subject before falling asleep in the Tower's library.

"OK, close enough," Tikva sighed before sending the Ghost floating from her outstretched hand towards the graffiti.

"Hmmm..." the machine murmured.

"What does it say?"

"You may not want to know precisely, as this phrase contains...very uncouth language. Basically, it's a threat to Guardians not to come here. That's not surprising. But why write this here? And why refer to a Defender Titan in the picture?"

"This is a trap! R-run while you still can!" a hoarse cough called out to her, echoing from the inside of the ship.

"Where are you? I'll come and get you!" Tikva cried without a moment's hesitation, looking around the ship as the Ghost also attempted to scan through the walls for signs of life.

Without any warning, an alien that Tikva had never seen before rushed towards the ship, wielding two swords, a shock rifle and shrapnel launcher strapped to its back. It was wielding Fallen armor, albeit more ornate, and she could definitely confirm it was Fallen once dozens of Dregs and Vandals charged her position on its command.

"It's a Fallen Captain!" the Ghost squeaked.

"What the hell is that?"

"Something you really don't want to mess with by yourself!"

"I'm not leaving until we've searched this entire ship. Keep looking, I'll hold him off," Tikva said. However, when se unloaded an entire magazine of auto rifle ammo at the Captain's head, he barely flinched. It only seemed to make him madder, actually!

"Then you're in luck, Guardian. A Titan's chained up in a deck below ground. I've marked his location on your HUD," the Ghost replied as it disappeared into her armor.

The Captain chortled as it aimed its shrapnel launcher at her head and a bevy of Fallen grenades and shock rifle blasts kept the Hunter suppressed. Tikva quickly ducked behind the only piece of cover available a transmitter of some kind that was located in the middle of the deck and putting out a broadcast in often garbled Russian as the spot where she'd been standing was obliterated. But that gave Tikva an evil idea.

"Why are you strapping that grenade to the bottom of that transmitter?" the Ghost whispered nervously in her head.

"Oh, you'll see," Tikva said. Then she yelled, "You'll never take me alive!" and pulled the pin on her grenade.

The Ghost would have told her the probabilities for what happened next. A 33% chance of being blown to bits instantly, a 33% chance of being found mostly intact by the Fallen and then killed, a 30% chance of being horribly flame-broiled if the transmitter contained explosive elements, and a meager 4% chance of survival.

But as she was coming to learn as the last parts of the floor the transmitter stood on crumbled away, if its Guardian could find a way of surviving, she would also find a way to make escape even more risky than was absolutely necessary, thus narrowing what little odds she had in her favor. Then down came the transmitter, the Hunter riding it through several decks to the underground floor.

"You...should have...turned back. Now we'll both be- ACK- consumed by the Darkness," the Exo Titan wheezed through its damaged voice processor.

Tikva's flashlight shined on his prone bright blue metallic body, full of bullet holes and chained up as bait for any other Guardians that would attempt to rescue him. Then she told him defiantly, "Not a chance."

She tried to drag him, but realized that his chassis weighed as much as three of her put together.

He mumbled, "They tried to get me to- hurk- tell them where the Causeway was. I know nothing of a Causeway. So I told them nothing..."

"Good, good. Just keep talking," Tikva said, confused about what the Causeway might mean while looking for a doorway or structural weakness.

"What's your name, Guardian?" Tikva's Ghost wondered.

A second, reddish Ghost appeared in front of the Exo and said to Tikva in a deep animatronic voice, "His name is Calore, and he doesn't have much time. Hurry, Guardian."

"At this rate, I'll need something with a lot of explosive power to punch through the wall to safety, and my grenade is still recharging. Can one of you give me a hand?"

"How about a fist?" Calore wryly chuckled. He then became a Striker Titan before unleashing his Fist of Havoc super ability, turning his hands blue with the Traveler's Light and then leaping forward and punching much of the hull off of the ship with a furious cry.

Tikva raised her hands in front of her face as the way out to the surface presented itself and light streamed in. The Captain raised his swords, let out a earthshaking roar, and charged into the gap. Without even realizing what they were, Tikva picked up a series of shimmering blue Orbs of Light, and was suddenly filled to the brim with energy. Also without much, if any, conscious input from her, this energy burst forth, becoming a thin armor made of blinding golden sunlight that forced the Fallen to stagger backwards a few steps.

"TIKVAAAA TIIIIME!" Tikva yelled as, at the ends of her fingers, almost an extension of herself, a pistol appeared out of thin air. Before the Captain realized what was happening, his head exploded from the force of three Golden Gun bullets and his soul lifted up and away like a wisp. The rest of the Fallen scattered for the hills without their Captain.

"Thank you, Guardian," Calore said as Tikva helped him up and he regained his vitality. "You saved my life, yet I don't know your name."

"Tikva. Glad I could help, Calore," Tikva replied with a smile and a handshake, then jumped back when the ship disappeared into a ball of enraged fire.

"They definitely heard that. We should probably get out of here before they come back," Calore said and then summoned his Sparrow and got on.

"Where do we need to go?" Tikva asked while also summoning her Sparrow.

"To find the rest of my Fireteam. They need my help!"

"Who are they?"

"Our Hunter is named Dakar and our Warlock is named Ayiana," Calore replied. "We were just finished patrolling the Moon and making our way back to Earth when we were shot down by Fallen ships. I have no idea how the Fallen managed to get into our jumpspace coordinates, only that they did, and now here I am."

"Alright, then there's no time to waste. Let's goooo!" Tikva yelled as she kicked her Sparrow into high gear, then almost immediately glanced off a rock and fell down a cliff to her death.

"We're doomed," Calore sighed just before she reappeared next to him.

* * *

The young Dreg had had a very hard time locating the rest of his squad. In the past few hours, he'd lost his crude drawing instruments, narrowly run away from several Fireteams worth of Guardians, almost gotten eaten by the Hive (and had the bite marks from a Thrall on his leg to prove it), been nicked by several shock rifle blasts from a sadistic Captain when the Dreg had tried to ask him for directions, and been stared at uncomfortably by several Servitors.

And all so that he could find his squadmates stumbling around idiotically, wearing blinking multicolored lights on their heads (likely ripped from old human panels) and laughing at each other. Of course, he would take a stupid but nice squad over a smart but evil squad any day of hte week. But the Dreg didn't even know why he bothered getting himself into so much trouble.

The distinctive clarion call of their Captain snapped them all back to their senses and they raced back to a position where a Fallen ship was appearing from jumpspace.

"You! Get those ugly trinkets off of your head," the Captain snarled. The young Dreg got in line with the rest, but in his rebellious mind he was thinking that the Captain had no right to judge given how the necklace of Guardian helmets clashed with the rest of his outfit.

"Anyway, what was I saying?" the Fallen squad leader murmured. "Ah, yes! Today is the beginning of a new dawn for the Fallen! The Wolves and all other Houses are dead! The Hive will obey us! The Vex are withering away as we speak! The Cabal will kneel before our wrath! The Reef will burn! And the Traveler! Will! FALL!"

Everyone cheered on what he was saying, but the young Dreg didn't do so with as much vigor.

"We have begun a Great Crusade this day. The Darkness is on our side, and with its help, the universe will cower at the power of the Archon Order!"

Several of the Fallen were astonished even as they were cheering. It hadn't been many cycles since Skolas and the House of Wolves had failed to claim the title of Kell of Kells of the entire Fallen race as the Prophecy stated before they were destroyed by the Guardians the Queen of the Reef, despite having wreaked havoc on all the other Houses and even the Vex. After this happened, some of the Archons, the warrior priest caste of the Fallen, had expressed misgivings at the truth of the Prophecy and the purpose of the House system in the first place when it lead to so much division and weakness.

But nothing more than rumor had substantiated the undercurrent of rebellion and the call for a unified Fallen race. Now this was a formal declaration of war by the Archons against the Kells of all the Houses.

They would probably be too weak to put up much of a fight. But it was also a war on multiple fronts against all of the other races of the universe as the Fallen knew it, and an attempt to reclaim the Empire of old. There was no turning back now.

If this didn't work out, it could mean the extinction of all the Fallen. The young Dreg remained silent although he pantomimed cheering on the Captain as he announced the news, wondering what all of this death would amount to, in the end.

"Catch!"

One of their squadron's Servitors, which had only just started repairing itself, caught a Guardian grenade in its eye and then fled, bumping into the young Dreg and his squadmates as it went. When it exploded, his friends took the brunt of the damage, but the shockwave sent him flying through the air as well.

Just his luck, he mused as he fell down the cliffside. At that same moment, his own name, a mark that every Fallen had stripped from them before joining the ranks, came back to him. Kolee.

He certainly sounded like a Kolee, Kolee thought when he ended up in the water and his vision faded completely to black.

* * *

"Catch!" Tikva yelled while hurling her grenade at a previously damaged Servitor that then exploded, killing several Dregs and tossing one of them into the water. She chuckled at the sight.

"Tikva, I thought we said we were going to flank them, quietly, then throw grenades," Calore said. This woman had rescued him from the Darkness, and he would always be grateful for that, but her impulsiveness was aggravating him and he had made her acquaintance for a little less than an hour.

"Sorry, I mixed that up," Tikva shouted while they took cover from a wild barrage of enemy fire.

"How could you possibly-?" the Exo harrumphed in utter disbelief. "Never mind. New plan. I think I see Ayiana in that cage over there! I'll distract them with my Ward of Dawn, and you sneak around and open the cage. Then get her out of here."

As soon as Tikva nodded and started working her way through yet another abandoned building to try to get to Ayiana, Calore threw down his Ward of Dawn and soon the shield made of pure light encompassed him and allowed him to pop out in between waves of fire to shoot down Fallen with lethal precision, then go back in to the safety of his Ward.

Tikva crouched, walked behind several enemies whose attention was focused elsewhere, and found a wire mesh ball of some kind with dark shadows surrounding it. In between strands of pure Darkness she could see a Guardian floating helplessly within it. Calore was right, Tikva realized; that must be Ayiana!

"No, wait!" Ayiana cried as Tikva tried to touch the cage.

The newborn Hunter's hand burned from the shadows and heated metal protecting the cage. Then a Shank found her and alerted the others, leading to Tikva's demise within seconds.

"Did you get Ayiana?" Calore demanded once Tikva revived underneath his shield.

"No."

"No?!"

"But I did find something out. We can't open her cage with our bare hands. But maybe we could use some weapons or explosions to break it open."

"That's a thought. My Ward is about to run out. Once it does, do everything exactly as I say, do you understand?"

"Got it," Tikva said, making more of an effort to actually listen this time.

"First, I'll strike the Captain. It probably won't kill him, but it will cause him to drop his Scorch Cannon. Pick that up immediately and then go nuts with it!"

"I like that idea," the Hunter almost cackled with glee behind her helmet.

"Now go!"

Tikva gave a rebel yell while Calore double jumped and then slammed down onto the Captain's head with his super, turning nearly half a dozen Dregs and Vandals into dust and making the Captain cartwheel through the air.

Then the Scorch Cannon, a rocket launcher nearly as big as Tikva herself, landed into her arms.

"Sorry in advance if this hurts at all," Tikva mumbled before pointing the cannon at Ayiana's cage and firing. However, she didn't account for recoil and the rocket instead flew upward and hit the ship, critically damaging it and sending it falling on top of a group of Vandals. The explosion also knocked the cage into the nearby abandoned building, breaking it into pieces.

The Captain grappled on to Calore and lowered his swords towards the Titan's neck plating. Calore blocked the swords with his machine gun while Tikva tossed auto rifle bullets, a grenade, and a throwing knife in the Captain's skull.

But finally, with a cry of "Get away from them, you ugly son of a..." Ayiana the Voidwalker Warlock hurled a Nova Bomb of pure Void energy in midair at the Captain, incinerating him and most of the remaining Fallen in the immediate vicinity with one blast.

"Are you alright, Calore?" Ayiana wondered as she floated back down to the ground.

"I'm fine. Where's Dakar?" Calore coughed once the Captain's body disappeared.

"Our ships crash landed together and he dragged me to safety while my armor healed my broken leg, but then he held them off while he told me to run and he was unsuccessful stopping them," Ayiana said, the Warlock struggling to keep her usual even keeled tone intact. "I don't know whether they captured him...or, or worse." She sighed before continuing. "I didn't manage to make it very far before I was captured and they demanded to know about something called a Causeway. When I couldn't tell them anything about it, they captured me as a trap for other Guardians."

"That same thing happened to me, as a matter of fact," Calore said. "What is going on here?"

"Well, perhaps you can explain who this Hunter is?" Ayiana wondered. Her tone seemed stern at first but then she simply cocked her helmeted head to the side quizzically, scanning Tikva with her eyes as Tikva also tried to figure out what to make of both the Titan and the Warlock.

"She's been...assisting me," Calore said, deciding to leave it at that. "Without her help, I probably wouldn't have been able to free myself or you from our mutual captivity."

"Well, you've been doing a good job. For a newborn, anyway," Ayiana said.

Tikva didn't know whether to be flattered by the first real sounding compliment anyone had given her for not completely messing up or be offended at the skeptical air the Warlock still had about her.

"So, what is this Causeway that they seem to be looking for?" Tikva wondered.

"I have no idea," said Calore. "But at least it doesn't appear as if the Fallen do either."

"And it's clearly connected to the Guardians somehow, otherwise they would have just killed us rather than interrogating us," Ayiana added. "But whatever it is, it would probably bode ill for the City if they found out. I should go to the Library and investigate further."

"We should probably get back to the Tower as soon as possible, and inform the Speaker of what we've learned."

Tikva's first instinct was to dissuade them against doing this for fear of punishment by Lord Shaxx for her willful truancy from the Crucible. But now she realized how petty that would sound, so she simply murmured, "Agreed. But how?"

The Hunter then attempted to lighten the mood by saying, "Unless anyone has a spare ship in their pocket."

"As a matter of fact, no, I do not," Ayiana said dryly. "I remember where my ship crashed, though. If you don't mind cutting through thousands of Hive, that is."

"It would be my pleasure," Calore said as he loaded his machine gun with heavy ammo.

"Ditto," Tikva said.

* * *

A bizarre sea creature with too many eyes and tentacles to be natural belched and sent Kolee and another Fallen flying out of the water in a wave of bluish liquid. They landed onto the Forgotten Shore with a wet thud, and then the creature gurgled before slinking back into the depths. The Dreg coughed up lake water, then hugged himself to a rock in front of him to try to dry off.

He'd just spent approximately four hours in the mouth of said sea creature after being sucked in by its beak, hanging with his knife to an equally strange appendage in the back of its throat in an attempt to prevent him from being swallowed.

Then a tongue as big as a ship got annoyed by his presence, then slapped the appendage to try and dislodge the irritant. Kolee had fired his shock rifle into the tongue, then inadvertently sliced off the part of the appendage he was clinging on to in the process, making him fall down the gullet of the creature.

He knew this was the end as he could see a vast pool of boiling acid where even large floating pieces of Walkers were broken down with ease. And would anybody care? It didn't appear that way to Kolee.

Then he landed on a spot of stomach lining that was just above the vile lake and blacked out.

When he came to, a Fallen Captain with two metallic appendages in place of his upper arms stood over him, then said, "Do not be alarmed. You wish to be free of this place, yes?"

Kolee barely understood what he was saying, but nodded anyway, not wanting to be shot for insubordination.

"I am Variks of House Judgement. And you are?"

"Kolee," Kolee squeaked.

"You wonder how I end up in belly of beast, yes? A tale for another time," the Captain muttered. "Take this. Throw it down to the acid. I will do the same, yes?"

Kolee nodded at that as well as he turned over the crude metal object in his hand.

"Then we will be free, you and I. Us two, working for us, yes?"

Kolee gulped, then threw the device into the green acid at the same time as the apparently insane Captain did the same. It turned blue, bubbled for a moment, and then erupted, sweeping up both of the Fallen, then carrying them out of the creature's mouth and onto the shoreline.

The last thing Kolee remembered before the Dreg blacked out was, "Variks will find you later, Kolee of House Nothing. If you survive."

* * *

"We've been wandering around for nearly four hours now, Ayiana. It will be dark soon and if we don't make a fortified camp for the night, the Hive will swarm us," Calore said.

"I know what I saw," the Warlock stubbornly insisted. "It has to be around here somewhere. If we camp now, the ship might be picked for parts and then we'll be stranded here until we can flag another Fireteam to take us to jumpspace. That could take weeks."

"This is not your decision. I have to think about the group now. It is my duty to do so as the duly appointed Fireteam leader."

"Guys," Tikva said.

"I know you're worried about Dakar, Calore. I am too. But even though you are the Fireteam leader, that does not give you the right to treat me like an imbecile."

"Guys?"

"You are acting irrationally because of your attachment to the human, and it is very unbecoming of you," Calore said firmly, like the Warlock was a child who needed lecturing.

"Attachment? He's my Fireteam member and friend. I cannot, will not rest until we find him. You said yourself, we don't leave anyone behind!"

"Guys!"

"Do not forget that I found you both when you were reborn in this exact place. I have no desire to abandon Dakar either. But right now, we are camping here, and that's an order!"

"GAH-EYEEEES!" Tikva shouted at the top of her lungs and jumped up and down, seeing that they were all frustrated and tired.

"What?!" the other two Guardians snapped at her.

"Hi."

"Hi to you too. And? Do you have anything germane to add?" Ayiana grunted.

Calore joined her in staring down Tikva. The Hunter had been quiet for nearly the entirety of the search, aside from the periods where they'd been fighting Hive and had to coordinate.

"And, maybe we should do one last sweep of this area before we camp," Tikva said. "It probably won't take more than another hour. Then we'll camp and keep looking in the morning. And if we still don't find Ayiana's ship, I know where mine is."

"Then why didn't you tell us this before?" Ayiana yelled.

"Because it's a lot farther away, thank you very much," Tikva snipped.

"That's actually...fairly reasonable," the Exo sighed in defeat as he put up his hand to silence both bickering women. What was just said was the first thing out of his fellow Guardian's mouth that didn't sound even the slightest bit unhinged. "Fine, let's do tha-"

He was cut off by a rush of foul smelling blue liquid that crashed onto the shore and pushed them all into a cave. Apparently, two dead looking Fallen were caught up in the stream with the three Guardians, but they didn't have any time to contemplate this before they landed hard on a pile made of thousands of Hive bones and passed out.

* * *

One indeterminate amount of time spent unconscious later...

All the Guardians retched as the obnoxious blue liquid failed to be filtered out by their helmets' respirators and had entered their noses, making it difficult to breathe.

Once they coughed out as much as they could, Ayiana hacked out the words, "Where are we?"

"I think this is what many have referred to as the 'Holy Treasure Cave,' if I'm not mistaken," Calore said.

"Are there any Hive that still inhabit this place?" Tikva wondered.

"To my knowledge, they abandoned this place shortly before the Black Garden was destroyed and have avoided this Cave ever since. No one knows why just yet," Calore murmured.

"We really should get some sort of compensation for how many times we've had to bail our Guardians out of trouble," Tikva could hear her Ghost stating in her mind. It wasn't inside her armor, so it probably was talking to the other Ghosts. But why was that exactly?

"I fully agree," Calore's Ghost replied with the computerized equivalent of a laugh. Ayiana's Ghost was also floating alongside the other two at the moment, but the minute it caught sight of Ayiana it hid within its Guardian's armor.

"What's all this about?" Calore asked.

"Take a look outside and see for yourself," Calore's Ghost replied.

All three Guardians breathed a sigh of relief as they saw that Ayiana's ship was parked in front of them.

"While you were busy, the three of us repaired the ship," Tikva's Ghost stated.

"You're welcome," Calore's Ghost added.

"I've never been happier to go to orbit in my life," Ayiana sighed.

"Not even after that annoyingly tough strike?" Calore interjected.

"This is much better."

Tikva's curiosity was piqued and she started to ask what "that annoyingly tough strike" was, but reappeared in the hull of the ship before she could get any worse out of her mouth.

And then, more exhausted than she'd ever been in her entire life by today's events, Tikva fell asleep as Ayiana set the ship's coordinates for the Tower and it disappeared into jumpspace.


	3. Chapter 3: Intergalactic Death Ball

**Chapter 3: Intergalactic Death Ball**

Normally, the Speaker would be in his chair, welcoming Guardians to his office, which now doubled as the Tower Library after the destruction of the Black Garden gave everyone breathing room. Patrons, usually Guardians, would state the name of any of the thousands of books that the Speaker had in his collection. One would float in front of them, and then they would borrow it in exchange for a security deposit of upgrade materials and return it in a mutually agreed upon amount of time. (Usually, the honor system worked. Usually. If not, more materials for him.)

Books and young Guardians were a lot alike, the man upon whose shoulders all of humanity's survival had rested for so long thought now. They were quiet, had a lot of potential, and never talked back at you. The wide eyed gaze of a Guardian borrowing a book, feeling the unfamiliar materials, and then reading it on a seat on the platform below the Speaker's Observatory or the contented smiles of one who'd gained a new understanding from a book and was returning it were now the best part of this often thankless job for him.

Now, though, the Speaker had gathered together two of his chief advisors who helped keep the City running, and just like every time he had to meet with them or he called the City Consensus together, he had to (sadly) temporarily close the Library to have this private meeting.

It barely mattered that the doors were closed, though, when they were shouting over each other in such a manner that half the Tower could probably hear them by now.

"How many times do I have to tell you before that echo chamber in your head realizes that she broke the rules and deserves to be punished?" Lord Shaxx demanded and pounded the table.

"She's my Hunter, so you don't get to decide that. Besides, I should think that helping two other Guardians escape certain death and find out information critical to the survival of the City might mean she doesn't need to be in your little game!" Cayde-6 snapped.

"Do not call the Crucible a game! The skills that I learned at Twilight Gap must be passed on before it is too late. If one Guardian is allowed to leave the Crucible before they're ready..."

"Oh, would you shut up about Twilight Gap this, Twilight Gap that! That was twenty years ago. Get over yourself, has been!"

"How dare you! All you've done is dream of looting the Vault of Glass and lose the Vanguard Dare. You have no idea how to properly-"

"That is quite enough, both of you," the Speaker said firmly as he stood up. He was a thin man, but after years of leading the City's tenuous war against the overwhelming might of the Darkness, he knew how to command a room or give a speech without raising his voice.

Both of them knew better than to say another word as the Speaker gathered his thoughts together.

"Strictly speaking, going through the Crucible is not mandatory for all new Guardians," he began. "We place them there first because the majority of the time it allows Guardians to hone their skills in a safe environment, but after the initial placement, we should not force Guardians into it against their wishes. In this case the newborn Tikva was not gaining anything from the Crucible except for the feeling that she would never be good enough to contribute to our cause. My hope is that her experiences with her newfound friends can make her a more mature and confident Guardian, and then perhaps if she so chooses she can return to the Crucible.

"At the same time, Lord Shaxx, you are right- if all newborn Guardians were able to leave the Crucible without putting in a proper request to do so with you or myself, then all the advantages of the Crucible for new Guardians would be lost. So she will be allowed to leave the Crucible, but she will also be punished. Cayde-6, since you are the Hunter Vanguard, that is your decision."

Cayde and Lord Shaxx nodded solemnly.

"Now go."

A wave of his hand was sufficient to send both advisors out towards the rest of Tower North.

The Speaker had scheduled a meeting with Commander Zavala in about five minutes from now to fill the vacancy in Calore-14's Fireteam left behind by the disappearance of Dakar, since Calore-14 was a Titan and as such his Fireteam fell under Zavala's purview as Titan Vanguard. He would also convoke an emergency session of the Consensus within the hour so that the leaders of all the City's factions could be informed of recent developments and come up with ways to find out more about this Causeway.

This only gave him a few fleeting moments of respite before he would have to descend into yet another busy day. He didn't have time to read any books, so he squeezed a stress ball shaped like a Ghost as hard as he could, and then opened and proceeded to read a letter on purple parchment that was sitting off to one side of his desk.

He smiled. Once every few months, he would take time to sneak out of the Tower, dress a trusted Guardian in his garb (and have him contact him on a secure line in case of emergency), then find his beloved and be with her for a scant few hours. It was a long way to travel, and the two of them had to operate under cloak and dagger not only because of their positions, but also because all of the Awoken on the Reef would probably feed the Speaker his own eyeballs if they found the two of them together.

But it was worth it.

He sighed and let his hand rest on his chin. This wonderful letter would tide him over.

Until next time.

* * *

Ayiana woke up on the cold, hard ground next to the rusted ruins of some kind of rural machinery. Probably from the Golden Age. When she fully regained her vision, she saw the roof of a barn and her initial thoughts were confirmed. Her eyes darted to the left when someone, or something, that flew silently right past her.

"Dak-" she started to say as she followed the object and recognized her fellow Fireteam member, but then the Hunter crouched down next to her and put a finger to the Awoken woman's lips, then pointed at a slew of Fallen running around outside, who were somehow herding several dozen Hive Thralls like cattle.

Ayiana tried to move her leg, but couldn't, no matter how much her mind strained at her body to obey its dictates. In time, her shield would heal her wounds, but she also saw the fact that the bone was sticking through her armor and knew it would take a while. She must have fallen pretty hard when her and Dakar's ships crashed.

The Warlock smirked to herself. The two of them had been revived together by both their Ghosts at the same time, then found by Calore at the same time, and were often jokingly asked if they had been brother and sister in their first life, before the Collapse. It was only fitting that they'd crash at the same time and end up in this situation together.

Seconds later, several shanks poured in through a broken window and attacked. Dakar had already positioned Ayiana behind cover, and dove behind a wooden wall himself, which began to chip away from shock rifle blasts and wouldn't hold out much longer.

"Is your leg better now?" he shouted over the gunfire, explosions, and alien screams.

"Yes, I think so. Let's push them back."

"No, there's too many of them! You have to go now, and find Calore!"

"But..."

"Now! Either one of us gets out of here, or we both die."

Ayiana glowered at him one last time, defying his logic through the almost telepathic body language they'd shared, challenging the cruel fate that wanted to destroy them both.

Dakar's final look at her lasted only a second, but Ayiana knew that the fear, sadness, and hope etched on his face as he accepted that he wouldn't be able to save them both but wanted to give his life for his best friend without a second thought would be burned in her memory forever. Then she accepted it, and ran out into a clearing.

Dakar covered her retreat by activating his Arc Blade super and charging into the fray, killing dozens of aliens with the slightest of ease. That was the last time she saw him.

She had a momentary thought that there weren't as many aliens as they'd thought and that she could go back into that barn and pull him out. That dissipated the second that hundreds of Cursed Thralls poured over the hillside. Ayiana got on her Sparrow and fled, her hands barely stable enough to steer the craft. She knew he was doomed and that her instinct to look back would only make it worse. Yet her heart ignored all rationality and she turned her head slightly.

"DAKAR!" she yelled as she saw the barn vaporize inside the greenish-blue flame of the Thrall explosions. Her eyes blinded by tears, she single handedly floated above a whole platoon of Captains wielding Scorch Cannons, hurling a Nova Bomb at them and blasting them all in the chest with her fusion rifle.

All of the Fallen yelled at her, "Wake up! Wake up!"

* * *

"Wake up!" Tikva cried at Ayiana. A light tap of the large dark ball in her hand on Ayiana's head was sufficient to wake her up.

"Huh? Wha?" the Warlock moaned as her eyes adjusted to the midday light.

"What are you doing passed out in the middle of the Tower North hallway?" Tikva wondered and sat next to her.

"The Tower Library closed just before I was about to borrow a book that might help me figure out where Dakar could be," Ayiana sighed.

She knew that she'd seen an explosion no one could survive (and hadn't told Calore yet about it) but her brother in arms wasn't just anyone. If anyone could escape, it would be him. Perhaps the Fallen army's entire tack had shifted to taking Guardians alive, if what happened to her and Calore were any indication. So if there was a chance to save him, then by the Traveler, she would take it!

"The Speaker just called a meeting of the Consensus. It looks like it's going to be closed for awhile," Tikva told her.

"You're right, those things tend to take forever. I don't mind so much that we're not allowed in, then, as I'm pretty sure that politics would put me to sleep."

"Calore and I were playing soccer in Tower Watch and when you didn't come back, we split up and went looking for you," Tikva replied.

"Well, go on ahead and tell him that I'm fine. I just need to think."

"About how to find him?"

"No..." Ayiana sighed, her long and messy purple hair wilting over her light blue face and white irises. Her attempts at deflection were met with an incredulous raising of Tikva's brow.

"Think about this," Tikva chuckled and tapped her noggin with the ball again. "All of our ships and helmets are being repaired and the Library is closed, silly. So what good is thinking about him right now?"

"Everything!" Ayiana shouted. "You may think this is all fun and games, but the fact of the matter is that a Guardian's life is at stake here and we can't just sit around here and pretend that everything is fine."

"Cheese and crackers!" Tikva fumed. At this point, the Crucible was almost preferable to her. "Excuse me for wanting to help."

"By doing what exactly?"

"I don't know, trying to think that there's more to life than death. But if you want to whine for the rest of the day about something you can't do anything to help right now, then do it by yourself. You'll be missing out on the greatest game ever invented."

With that, the young and irascible Hunter took her big, black, mysterious ball and stormed out.

"And that is?" Ayiana asked weakly, sensing she'd hurt her new friend.

Tikva's brown eyes perked up when Ayiana asked her. "INTERGALAAAACTIC DEATH BALL! Ball. Ball. Echo. Echo."

Ayiana crossed her arms in confusion.

"As many Guardians as possible get under this ball, which mysteriously appeared after someone- cough, Calore, cough- 'accidentally' kicked the soccer ball off the edge of the Tower. Then they attempt to keep it in the air. If you pass it to someone and they let it hit the ground, they're out. Last person to have it still in the air wins."

"Sounds...interesting," Ayiana puzzled.

"C'mon, pleeeease," Tikva begged.

"Hey, let me think about it."

"Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease!"

"I'm starting to think that you're actually twelve years old," the Warlock said with a roll of her eyes. "But yes, I'll join you. At least until the Library is open again."

"Deal," Tikva said as she led her friend outside. "And, about earlier. That was uncalled for. I won't pretend to understand what you're feeling, since I don't really have anybody to lose like you do. And even if I did, that wasn't fair."

"Well, I think Calore and I would be a little bit annoyed if you died. That counts for something, right?" Ayiana asked while elbowing the human in the chest plate.

"Maybe," Tikva laughed.

"Thank the Traveler," Calore panted, out of breath as he caught up with his friends. "The, huff, Tower is, puff, bigger than I, phew, imagined. Where did you find Ayiana?"

"Around," the Hunter shrugged. Then she asked, "So, did you find another ball to replace the one you lost, or shall I introduce Intergalactic Death Ball to the world?"

"I recall a certain klutzy Hunter kicking the ball directly at my head, whereupon I attempted to kick it back to you and it landed at an oblique angle on my right foot and bounced off Master Rahool's head and then off the Tower."

"You should have seen that, Ayiana. It was the perfect revenge on the Cryptarch for giving us all blues yesterday!" Tikva grinned. "Well, I guess Intergalactic Death Ball it is."

The moment she kicked it up in the air, every Guardian around her circled it with wide, curious eyes and then kicked it up in the air whenever. At first it was stranger to the touch than the ordinary soccer ball, but and watching it float down slowly and being better able to anticipate where the ball would go made up for it.

Xander the Bounty Tracker saw them and said, "I don't get paid nearly enough for this" when the ball bounced on its titanium head, and then it left a small black greasy stain on his chassis. To make matters worse a crazed Guardian clambered up on the boxes behind him and started chewing on his head with a bizarre cry of "Waffle! Om nom nom nom nom."

One moment, it got stuck in the Great Tree after Calore practiced a more directed kick, and then Ayiana had the bright idea to shoot it down with her Nova Bomb. This succeeded in dislodging the object, but it became purple now and started zipping around the assembled mass of Guardians. When Ayiana and Tikva both dived after it and it bounced off the concrete, they were declared dead.

"How ironic that you invented this game only to lose," Ayiana observed with a wry smile.

"Aw, shut up," Tikva laughed.

"Oh, look, that looks like something fun. Hey, can we join?" Ayiana wondered. The other Guardians were sitting in a circle and they nodded.

Soon, the two of them were caught up in a corrupted version of a pre-Golden Age children's game called "Wizard, Wizard, Thrall." Minutes of giddy fun and chasing later, Tikva was now the new picker.

She relished the prospect of getting to poke the other Guardians as they squirmed at the chance to go up and get her the minute she chose them as Thrall.

So the Hunter took her time, saying, "Wizard, wizaaaard, thr- wizard"- then laughed at the fake out when someone thought they heard thrall- "wizard from the Moon, wizard, wizard..."

It went on like this for about a minute, until Tikva finally closed her eyes, tapped the next person in line, and then sprinted in horror when she realized it was Ayiana and that the tall Awoken woman closed in on her like a cheetah.

Poor Tikva had no chance. Ayiana pinned her on the grass and on her back, and for a moment, the entire world stopped.

"Now it's off to the Dark Below with you!" the Warlock cackled.

"NO! I protest! This is tomfoolery I say!" Tikva laughed in mock protest. But no amount of kicking her arms and legs would dislodge Ayiana's hand from around her waist as the Hunter was hoisted over Ayiana's shoulders and into the center of the circle with the other defeated Guardians.

A few minutes after that, Tikva beheld the oddest sight in her life so far: Calore attempting to dance. Since he was a machine with very few joints, it was more of a stiff gesture where his entire upper body dropped towards the ground and then back up while his arms creaked from side to side.

"Take a look at your new Intergalactic Death Ball champion!" Calore laughed once he finished, a lot of tension over the past few weeks seeming to evaporate off of his shoulders at the moment.

"I hardly think that kicking the ball onto the roof of the Postmaster really makes you a champion," one of the losing Guardians grumbled.

"I was still the last Guardian keeping it afloat, as you are well aware," Calore grinned. "Therefore I have attained victory.

"You are such a sore winner," Ayiana said with an eye roll. "Besides, there's one thing I know you're not good at."

"And what is that?"

"Celebration dances. I just won at Wizard, Wizard, Thrall."

"Child's play."

"It actually has much more depth than at first glance. Anyway, on to my dance."

"Oh? That will be interesting to see."

Ayiana's hips moved from side to side while her feet crossed and uncrossed over themselves, her hands waving rhytmically in the air while her head dipped and popped back up. "Bam," she said, extremely pleased with herself.

Tikva, while standing on some boxes, admired the Awoken's dancing ability and at the same time thought that both of her friends were sore winners at this point. However, she kept her gaping awe and then laughter to herself.

Then she double jumped on to the roof and chuckled when she managed to stick the landing. She pushed the ball off and on to the ground so everyone could play a new game, to their great delight. After that, she attempted to get down, but Tikva was suddenly

She wasn't the first to discover how much fun riding up and down the fan could be, but she was the first in a long time to scream so loudly from laughter as she was buffeted by air currents that nearly a dozen Guardians, including Ayiana and Calore, joined her. Everyone held hands to keep the group steady until they looked like an undulating parachute made of armor, capes, and tears of unbridled joy.

* * *

Tess Everis, the special orders broker, had had enough. If there wasn't a Postmaster next door who needed it in order to keep the servers with all the messages on them from overheating, she would have gotten rid of that blasted fan years ago. The cheering and thudding as grown Guardians played on it like it was some toy was driving her mad.

So she called the Speaker. He would put a stop to it, she was sure of it.

"Hey, it's me again. They're jumping on the fan again."

"Alright, I'll take a look."

When the Speaker, exhausted from an interminably long meeting with the factions, hung up on Tess, he muttered, "Now, where is it?," carefully shuffling papers and books off to one side.

"Aha!" he remarked as he located a previously buried red button on his desk with the sign "Fan Control" on it. He reached out for the button, then hesitated.

At the same time, a table just below his staircase where Petra Venj had placed some Awoken cuisine brought to the meeting of the Consensus just as she was returning to the Reef (with the Speaker's reply letter in safekeeping) was covered in plates of uneaten food.

The Speaker had learned a long time ago that the pre-Golden Age axiom "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar" was still quite true.

"The Library is now reopen," he broadcasted, "and there are refreshments generously given by our guests from the Queen of the Reef's delegation if anyone wants it."

The relief in Tess's voice when she realized that the Guardians were off of her fan was very much in evidence when the Speaker called her back.

"I've had food from the Reef before," Ayiana said with a fond smile when the Speaker's announcement came over the PA system as she floated down from the fan. "You should try it!"

"Sounds like a- oof!- plan," Tikva grinned back once she fell onto the grass. "And you'll have to tell me what the Reef is like someday."

"Don't go anywhere just yet," said a very familiar Exo behind her. She turned around and realized it was Cayde.

"Let's catch up at the Hall of Guardians later. I'll save you some food!" Ayiana said as she and Calore went on ahead.

"See you then!" Tikva yelled. "How can I help you?" she then smiled at Cayde.

"Well, first of all, I'd like to congratulate you. The Speaker himself made a point of noting that we wouldn't have found out about the Causeway without help from the three of you. Well done. In response, the Vanguard and all the factions are handing out bounties and Patrol beacons targeting some key Archons who might be leading this new attack. Alive or dead, it doesn't really matter. Once your ships and helmets are fixed up, you can take on some of these missions with

"New Fireteam? Who might that be?" Tikva wondered, barely containing her excitement

"Well, Zavala placed you with Ayiana and Calore. If they accept, of course."

"YES!" Tikva cried and fist pumped. "I- I mean, I understand, sir," she then said politely.

"At ease, soldier," Cayde laughed. "The only thing is, you do up and sneak out of the Crucible. Hunters don't back down from anything just because it's too hard."

"I thought that Hunters wrote their own rules."

"I- er- don't get smart with me, Guardian. That ain't the time or place to be making up your own rules," Cayde replied firmly. "In any case, consider this as light as possible of a punishment, all other circumstances considered."

Tikva sighed, ready to accept her punishment.

"Remember those new bounties I was talking about?"

She nodded.

"Well, they can't be delivered now on account of a loony Guardian ripped Xander's head off and is hiding somewhere in the Tower with it. If we don't repair Xander soon, thousands of bounties can't be given out and those that are completed will be unable to be turned in, and then we'll be mired in paperwork for days. Your job is to track this thief down, retrieve the head, put Xander back together, and if there are any glitches in the bounty tracking program you need to fix them."

"But-"

"Get to work. I know you'll do good, kid," Cayde said, patting her on the back before smiling as the young Hunter woman set off on her search. She was definitely going to see more excitement than he had in a very long time.

* * *

Hey guys, Jack Barrington here. I just want to thank you so much for the amount of support shown to this story so far! In the first week alone, it's gotten 165 views! That's insane, and it makes me feel very excited to get back into fanfiction writing for a game I really enjoy after a few years of being away and taking time to grow as a writer (I haven't decided whether to delete my amateurish stories from other fandoms or not!).

I've been writing where I can, usually during my lunch break and on the subway rides home, but I'm shooting for an upload schedule of once-twice a week. But the more views, reviews, follows, and favorites you guys leave, the more I'll try to get out each week, even if it's short and more focused on humor than plot.

Here's a bonus as a thank you once again for your support. I forget where on Twitter I found this, but Lord Shaxx's parody Twitter account ( CrucibleShaxx) retweeted a tweet where somebody wanted Lord Shaxx to sing "I'll Make a Man Out of You" by Donny Osmond from Mulan. Seeing as it's my favorite song from a severely underrated Disney film, I decided to give it a whirl. Enjoy!

Let's get down to business

To defeat the Hive

Did they send me newborns when I asked

For Guardians?

You're the saddest bunch I've ever met

But you can bet before you're through

The Crucible will make Guardians out of you

Sneaky as a pack of Vandals

But brutal killers within

Once you finally gain the lead

You are sure to win

You're a spineless, pale, pathetic team

And you're behind by five thousand points

The Crucible will make Guardians out of you

I'm never gonna stop dying

Say goodbye to any chance of winning

Boy was I a fool for not bringing a shotgun

This guy's super got 'em scared to death

Hope I get heavy ammo before he kills me

Now I really wish that I knew how to aim

Be Guardians

You must capture all the zones

Be Guardians

Destroy your enemies and execute all targets

Be Guardians

With all the strength of the Traveler's light

Mysterious as the Wizards on the Moon

Time is racing toward us till the Taken King arrives

All of you work together and you might survive

You're unsuited for the rage of war

So pack up, go to orbit, you're through

How could the Crucible make Guardians out of you?

Be Guardians

You must capture all the zones

Be Guardians

Destroy your enemies and execute all targets

Be Guardians

With all the strength of the Traveler's light

Mysterious as the Wizards on the Moon

Be Guardians

You must capture all the zones

Be Guardians

Destroy your enemies and execute all targets

Be Guardians

With all the strength of the Traveler's light

Mysterious as the Wizards on the Mooooooon!

Thanks again! Chapter 4 will be out soon. Every review, follow, favorite, etc. helps!


	4. Chapter 4: Blood and Other Ties

**Chapter 4: Blood and Other Ties**

Tikva gasped as she clawed her way out of the ventilation system in the Tower Hangar while carrying Xander's severed head triumphantly, about an hour after Cayde had sent her to track down the Hunter who had stolen it. She then accidentally landed on the lap of the Shipwright, Amanda Holliday.

"Um...he- ahem- hello," Amanda coughed as Tikva's landing kicked up dust into her nose.

"Sorry about that," Tikva coughed as she stood up and attempted to brush off as much dust from her hair. "Nice to see you again. How's my ship coming?"

"Your ship, and those of your friends, are now completely repaired," Amanda said once she'd composed herself.

"OK, thanks bye," Tikva replied, then rushed to Tower Watch.

Her Ghost appeared and said, "Good job. Hopefully the delay hasn't caused too much of an inconvenience for people."

"Yeah, hopefully," Tikva said, only to gasp, "Oh no! Now I've really gone and screwed it up."

"Why's tha- oh. If anyone asks, I'll deny knowing you," the Ghost said before disappearing.

In front of her was a long line of angry Guardians, lining up to deliver their bounties to a robot that stood there, headless and motionless. Ayiana and Calore, probably thinking that Tikva was still looking for Xander's head, attempted to calm the crowd.

One Guardian yelled, "I killed all these newbies with headshots while doing backflips in midair with a fusion rifle and now I can't get the Crucible Reputation for that extremely easy bounty!"

Another pleaded, "This bounty...finding that Wolf was the only chance I had of winning the Queen's love!"

"I really don't want Eris staring at me while I try to explain why I couldn't complete her bounties," a third Guardian trembled.

"This would never happen if the New Monarchy was in charge!" someone else cried.

"Oh yeah? If Dead Orbit was in charge, we'd have evacuated to a safer galaxy by now!" another person yelled and then started punching the New Monarchy supporter.

Soon, an all out brawl broke out in the streets of the Tower, and Ayiana and Calore were helplessly pulled into the middle of it. Tikva tossed Xander's head into the crowd so they would fight over that instead, then double jumped and motioned for them to follow her into the Tower Hangar as veteran Guardians broke up the fight.

"That was close!" Tikva panted once the three of them were leaning against a wall in the upstairs lounge above the docking bay.

"Can I ask how you became a human dust bunny?" Ayiana wondered as she gently brushed some of it off of Tikva's hair and from behind her ears, then off the couch next to her when it landed there.

"You don't want to know, trust me- achoo!" Tikva exclaimed, then brushed some dust that had gotten onto Ayiana's shoulder pads and gauntlets when she sneezed.

"Guardian, Amanda just notified me that your Fireteam's ships are in the docking bay and ready for take off," Calore's Ghost said, then worked with Tikva's Ghost to vacuum the remaining dust off of the young Hunter's armor.

"Excellent. Any suggestions on where we should start looking for clues about what the Fallen are up to?" Calore asked.

"Calore doesn't have a plan? I have to put this day down on my calendar," Ayiana laughed. "I think we should go patrol the Moon again."

"That's where we all got shot at last time, if I remember correctly," Calore said, a new plan formulating in his artificial brain that would definitely be better than hers. "It would be a suicide mission, especially with a newborn Guardian on our team. Shouldn't we go back to Earth and try and find more Archons, then gather intelligence about what they're doing on the Moon before going back there?"

While Tikva fumed in silence at being called a newborn again, Ayiana replied, "That's not a bad suggestion, Calore, and a pretty sensible one under most circumstances. But when we were patrolling the Moon, something stuck out at me. Most of the time, when we escape the Moon, the Fallen don't bother following us. Why this time? My hunch is that they were afraid we were on to something that they really didn't want us finding out about and reporting back to the City. So if we retrace our steps from our last patrol, we may be able to uncover what they were doing. It might also be related to this Causeway business."

"It's definitely a hunch, but if there's a chance that we could hit the heart of the Archons' operation, that would be more expedient," Calore said after digesting her logic.

"Maybe we might find out where Dakar is as well," Tikva suggested.

"Yes, there is that as well," Ayiana smiled at her human friend. "Besides, we've gotta put the greenhorn through her paces sometime," she added and patted Tikva on the back.

Tikva laughed sarcastically, but then the exciting possibilities of this mission hit her and she squealed, "We're really going to the Moon! Yaaaay!" and jumped up and down for joy.

"What's so exciting about the Moon?" Calore wondered. "It's a piece of rock that orbits Earth."

"It's in space! SPACE! I've never been to space before," Tikva giggled, jumping around in her own skin before making a caffeinated beeline to the ship, jumping up and down the whole way there while Ayiana and Calore jogged after her.

* * *

Tikva smiled again when their ships touched down on the chalky dust below them. Then as she beheld the middle of the cold vacuum outstretched before her, the Milky Way and the remnants of the International Space Station becoming an iridescent soup before her eyes while she spun around and around.

"Remember, Guardian, we're not here to stargaze," her Ghost said.

"Killjoy, as usual," Tikva muttered when she landed on the ground, making moon dust angels for a few seconds. "I know there's a mission to be had and bad guys to be killed, etcetera, posthaste and so forth, but guys, we should make a day to come back here and actually enjoy our next trip to the Moon! Well, when our lives aren't being threatened of course."

"That sounds a plan," Ayiana laughed with her fellow Guardian, now even dustier than before, and helped her up. "I've always wanted to-"

"We started out on Archer's Line. We should head there first," Calore said, then got out his Sparrow and sliced through the lunar landscape, silently letting his team know that they should do the same.

No sooner had they set out to the distinctive pipeline that jutted out from the crater beneath it than a Thrall fell on top of Tikva's Sparrow. Before it could attack her, she pressed the windshield wiper controls and plastic paddles knocked it off into a rock below, plastering it with alien viscera.

"You alright?" Calore wondered.

"Yeah, I'm fine," the Hunter replied.

Ayiana immediately cocked her head to one side, rapidly approached the corpse once she realized there was no danger of attack from a pack of Hive, then dipped her finger in the blue fluid coming from the body and had her Ghost take a sample.

"Something's wrong with this Thrall," she muttered. "They usually don't move above ground."

"You're right, Guardian," her Ghost said once it had done a quick analysis of the blood. "It appears that the chemical composition of this Thrall's blood was altered. I don't know with what exactly, but it feels...familiar somehow. I'll need to bring the rest of the sample to the City as soon as possible. Their scientists will probably be able to tell us more."

"That Acolyte over there is kind of acting weird as well," Tikva said, recalling its name from one of the books she'd read in the Tower Library before shooting it in the head. It didn't flinch much and fell over listlessly instead of making the trademark Hive screech of rage.

"The same blue substance is replacing their blood," Ayiana said. "But...why?"

"That's what we'll need to find ou- Fallen!" Calore cried as an ambush of two Captains and dozens of Dregs and Vandals came flooding down from the hill above.

The team dived behind a series of long dead fusion reactors and computers inside the building and then threw a few tables as cover. This wouldn't hold them for very long, but once the Fallen horde broke inside, they would be forced to go through such a narrow entrance that their numbers could be thinned with ease.

"Is this what you'd think you'd be doing on your first trip outside Earth?" Ayiana asked after she blasted a Vandal that was stuck on Tikva's knife.

"No, I'd wanted to bring a picnic basket and make a day of it. But it sure comes close!" Tikva laughed before throwing her skip grenade onto a Captain. It annoyed him as much as a series of mosquito bites would a human, and he grabbed her by the throat and threw her against a computer bank.

The resulting shocks disrupted her shields for a few seconds, but before the Captain could strike the Hunter staggered him with a throwing knife and Calore jumped towards him and punched the knife through his throat and the top of his head.

When Tikva caught and cleaned it, she smirked, "That was badass!" and high fived Calore.

"I suppose if that's the way you wish to term a particularly aesthetically pleasing kill..." Calore smiled. "Anyway, thank you."

This caused the rest of the Fallen in his group to scatter, but the Fireteam only had a few moments of reprieve before a group double the size of the one they had just fought off charged them. They readied their weapons, let the grim feeling that their first mission could easily be their only mission sink in...

Suddenly, a brilliant flash of pure light, probably from a flash grenade, blinded many of the Fallen, and even forced the Guardians to cover their eyes. The Captains and other stronger Fallen roared in defiance as they attempted to find the source of the attack, and one Captain dual wielding swords dived after Ayiana. Then another Captain charged in, but instead of attacking the Guardians it picked up the first Captain and broke his enemy's spine on his knees as the rest of the Fallen scattered into the embrace of the Darkness.

"Do not shoot! We are on same side!" the Captain cried and slowly lowered his weapons.

"Forgive us for being a little skeptical," Calore said as he pressed his shotgun against the head of the Fallen. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"My name is Variks of House Judgement," the Captain replied with a bow. "You are the Guardians of the Great Machine, yes?"

Ayiana stated, "Yes we are. What do you need us to do?"

While was confused about why he was surveying them as if he wasn't sure if they were actually Guardians or if this was a trap, she figured that he referred to the Traveler, as that was the popular parlance for it.

"I have a source, yes? Inside the Archon Order's base here. Go to Summoning Pits. They will try to kill you. Kill them back."

Before the Fireteam could ask him anything else, Variks was gone.

"Well, that was...interesting," Tikva smiled.

Ayiana smirked at that attempt to put a good spin on what they'd just encountered.

"Certainly," Calore said as he grimly set to the task of entering the Temple. Calore's Ghost appeared outside his armor and gave a worried whirr.

* * *

Kolee could barely keep his knees from knocking in the middle of the crowd of Dregs and Vandals as he contemplated the chaos that would break out within moments, all thanks to him.

"Get up and serve the Queen of the Reef, and the spark of Light within you, or be consumed by the Darkness," Variks had told him without any semblance of nicety when the rebellious Captain found Kolee sleeping on a pile of Hive bones in a cave that morning. "Your choice."

Kolee had mulled his options over for several hours. Being a single cog within the machine that was the Fallen race had been drilled into him as the most glorious duty that anyone could be a part of.

"All of us were equally born Fallen," he'd muttered in his mother tongue in the cave, far from anyone else, "and all of us must give our lives to the Fallen that we might be equally reborn."

He'd seen the cruel fates of those few who betrayed that mantra by defying any one of the Houses and were captured, and it had made his stomach turn to think of it.

The moment he'd picked up those drawing instruments, though, he realized that a part of him, both within and without his body, had left him. He couldn't put his claws on it, but this thing he'd been tied to had kept him centered, warm, stable. Now that something had taken it away, he was empty. But he also realized in that cave that whatever it was had given false comfort and its absence returned feeling to his skin and sight to his eyes. Suddenly, every detail of the world around him became more vivid, and once his tense stomach finally settled, he knew exactly what he had to do.

And so he'd accepted the fool Captain's offer, and been whisked away to a completely cold, barren rock far from all he'd ever known on a mission that would likely result in his death. The only comfort he took was that he had nothing much to lose.

Within minutes of arriving on the Moon, he gasped in his helmet as he found the nearest large procession of Fallen. He recognized Archon Vokuna the Enforcer leading the way, followed by a dozen Captains and almost a hundred Vandals, Dregs, and Shanks. The crowd was so large that it was trivial to simply walk over and follow them to wherever they were headed. As he pressed the button that would track his location for Variks to find, he'd wondered why he'd gotten all worked up about it if it was this ridiculously easy to complete his mission.

The only Dreg who got wise to the fact that he wasn't normally part of this group had lent him a spare ritual cloak to help him blend in, and Kolee was thankful that his helmet masked the sound of his relieved exhalations.

But now it was much harder to do so as the prospect of having to fight or flee anywhere from three to six angry Guardians loomed on the horizon.

Even more terrifying to him, enough to freeze him in place when he knew to run, was seeing the horrible things the rest of those who were pledged to the Fallen were doing.

And who was screaming.

* * *

Ayiana, Calore, and Tikva were crouched down on a ridge just above the Hellmouth as they observed the patrols of the guards in front of them. They had crossed nearly the entirety of the Ocean of Storms to get here, and now they knew there was no possibility of turning back. Either they stopped the Fallen, or-. Nobody wanted to think about or, but even Tikva was crestfallen into total silence.

Ayiana stammered, "So...all out assault then? Are you sure?"

"Wait, what?" Calore's Ghost demanded. "When I heard you thinking about that in your head, I thought you were kidding! Surely there has to be a way to do this without attracting needless attention. Calore, it's your duty to find a better solution! Do not put-"

"I know what my duty is," Calore said. "The fact of the matter is that this entire complex is too heavily guarded to sneak into. We have to attack now, or we might be too late to halt their plans."

"I agree," Tikva whispered.

"But are you ready?" Calore practically demanded of his younger squadmate.

"Sir, yes sir!" Tikva exclaimed, as still as her powered off Sparrow.

Calore led the way with another Strike attack that flattened several Fallen guards at once. Once the two women jumped into the cavernous maw below them, a giant, dark, metallic chalice slowly rose from the ground and began firing on all three of them at the same time, driving them back into cover.

"What in the Traveler is that thing?!" Tikva asked.

"A Shrieker! Shoot it when it opens its core!" Ayiana yelled back.

A few minutes of sponging up their bullets later, the Shrieker screeched, exploding and leaving unstable and blinding purple globules everywhere. A few Wizards emerged in its stead, but like the Thrall they'd seen before, these Wizards floated listlessly and were careless and sluggish in throwing their attacks at the Guardians. As such, mainly due to Ayiana and Calore's knowledge of their weaknesses, they were dispatched with much less difficulty than they normally would have been, as were a few dozen Thralls that scrambled forward as quickly as they could but with less tenacity than in the past.

The Guardians moved into the maw of the lunar cave so cautiously that even the lunar regolith underneath their dragging boots sounded nervous.

For what seemed like a half dozen rooms, they encountered nothing but hollowed out caverns, seething stalactites, a chain going through the floor and ceiling, and the ominous and imposing darkness that lay, unending and relentless, at their feet. None of them realized just how imposing it could be until Tikva collapsed onto her knees and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I- can't- breeeathe!" Tikva gasped and then squeaked.

"I can feel it trying to crush my chest too, and I don't even breathe," Calore muttered. "This must be a Darkness Zone. Be very careful, Guardian. We can't afford to have any of your usual theatrics leading to all of us getting consumed." He trudged forward.

"He didn't mean it like that, Tikva. C'mon, get up," Ayiana said and rubbed her friend's armored neck while throwing a glare at Calore.

"He's right though. I'll probably fuck this up too," Tikva said in weak rasps.

"No you won't. You hear that, you Fallen scumbags?!" Ayiana yelled and pulled Tikva up. "We're gonna get up, and we're gonna kick all your asses!"

The cave walls replied, "Kick all your asses! Asses!"

"The cave is rooting for us," Tikva chuckled as she willed her feet to walk onwards.

"That's the Tikva I know! Are you sure you don't need to rest for a little bit longer?" Ayiana wondered with one arm around the Hunter's shoulder. She could sense the horrors of this place reaching out from beyond the Void to try to corrupt her soul even now so she would use her powers for ill, but she held firm after years of honing her knowledge of the arcane. She couldn't imagine how much turmoil Tikva's kind and innocent heart was in right now, when she had no such spiritual defenses.

"N-no. I can do this. I said I was ready, so I'm ready," Tikva firmly told the Warlock, then reluctantly broke their embrace to push ever onward.

"You know, I get why you don't feel you can tell them if you're not feeling well, Guardian. But you can tell

"I. Said. I'm ready. OK?" Tikva snapped. The Ghost knew her thoughts were full of fear and doubt gave the artificial equivalent of a sigh and then went back into her armor.

After a few more minutes of walking, they came upon a room two long staircases on either side and two balconies adjoining the center of the room. Tikva silently glanced at Calore as she peered inside, who acknowledged with an equally stony nod that t. There was only the barest of standing room for all the Fallen and Hive watching what appeared to be an arcane ritual taking place.

"Where is the Causeway, Awoken filth? Do not test my patience again!" the Archon demanded as a Captain muttered a few words then took a knife and slashed at something.

"For the thousandth time, if I knew what this fucking Causeway was, I would never tell you where it is!" a Guardian yelled while it drained some of his blood into a wooden bowl.

Ayiana bit her tongue to stop herself from sobbing when she gazed in disbelief at the owner of the voice, then balled up her fists until her fingertips bled inside her gloves.

"Dakar," she shuddered into her chest. "He's alive...badly burned and bleeding, but alive."

"That's- that's good news, right? What's our plan to get him out of here?" Tikva asked.

At the same time, she saw the captured Hive pack members get frenzied at the smell of the Light in Dakar's blood as all three of their Ghosts clandestinely recorded the scene. The chained Wizards were given vials taken from the bowl to drink as they were kept in place by two listless Ogres surrounded by Cursed and Hallowed Thralls, who were set to strike if any Guardians were detected. Just before the Wizards could sip the blood, however, Vokuna placed a droplet of blue liquid within it. Once the Wizards drank, they became listless, then halted an attack on the ritual chamber by a group of enraged Acolytes, Knights, and Thralls within seconds, forcing them too to obey.

Tikva asked in an even tinier voice, "I said, what's our plan?"

"He heard you," Tikva's Ghost told her in her head. "His Ghost just told me, though, that he's thinking of retreating to the City without trying to free Dakar."

Ayiana thought, "WHAT?! But he'll die!"

"There's no need to think so loud," Ayiana's little light told her Hunter. "I'll let him explain."

Calore tiptoed back down the hallway and, once the coast was clear, said as softly as his voice chip could manage, "The recorded information that our Ghosts carry from this event will enable us to prepare the City for the Fallen's plans to enslave the Hive. That intelligence is too valuable to risk all three of our lives over Dakar's."

"But he's our Fireteam member, and you've never given up on me or him before now, so why this moment?" Ayiana demanded.

"Believe me, I wish I could save him. But this time we don't have a choice."

"Because of the enemy's numbers?" Ayiana almost screamed, but turned into a low, hoarse cry. "I saw you personally kill three dozen Vex within a minute with your bare hands and your Fist of Havoc at the Battle of Maat Mons."

"Back then, we didn't have a newborn to consider and they didn't have a Guardian as a hostage."

"Is that what Guardians are supposed to be now, huh? Afraid to take risks in case things might get dangerous?"

"Dakar would make the same choice for the good of the group and of us all if he were in my position, and you know that as well as I do."

"No he wouldn't. This kind of calculation is typical of you, though, you...you..."

"Say it. Go ahead," Calore replied, yellow cybernetic eyes narrowing through blue slits.

"Robot."

The Exo crossed his arms and said nothing further.

Tikva had been rooted to the spot, unable to choose who was right and say anything that would change anyone's minds.

"Hunters don't back down from anything just because it's too hard," Cayde-6 had told her only hours before. And here she was, doing just that by not stepping up and doing something.

In a spat of self pity before she accidentally fell off the Tower, she'd told herself tha if she'd never been revived it would be better for everybody. If Calore ordered her to run away from this fight, the Speaker would most likely understand- after all, her Fireteam was outnumbered and fighting against impossible numbers of enemies while attempting to secure the safety of the City, which was, after all, their job. But from then on, she would have never forgiven herself for failing at her life's new (and so far only real) goal outside of merely protecting the Solar System.

And that was being there for the people who had been there for her when she needed it most. While Ayiana continued to rant as quietly as she could against an immovable Calore, she made her choice.

* * *

At that moment, Vokuna growled at the puny Hunter kneeled before him "Since no one is coming for you and you have no information to offer, we shall send you to the Darkness as an offering so that our campaign will receive its favor."

Kolee pressed a button and then attached a grenade to a Cursed Thrall, his heart racing as he hoped he was doing the right thing saving this human he didn't even know.

"BEHOLD! I am Crota, your angry god. Destroy these Fallen interlopers, or I will grind your bones to make my bread!" Tikva howled as she brandished a Knight's sword like it was the Sword of Crota as a lantern cast an enormous, and hoped to the Traveler that her Ghost could translate into Hive and that the Hive were too strung out on Guardian blood to notice that Crota had been dead for at least several months.

Her point was backed up when Kolee detonated a grenade, causing all the Cursed and Hallowed Thralls to explode and taking out many of the Fallen. In response, the dazed and confused Hive retreated with as much haste as they could at the loud noise.

"Destroy he-RAAAAGH!" Vokuna started to say, until he was shot in the head by a Golden Gun blast and then hastily retreated to lick his wounds. The other two shots severely blinded an Ogre before it could use its void energy to incinerate her.

Tikvas was also able to cut a bloody path to where Dakar was through many of the Dregs and Vandals that attempted to oppose her using the Sword and her own pent up anger, and then she cried, "Can you stand up?"

"I, I think so," Dakar coughed and rose to his feet, then shot an Acolyte attempting to attack Tikva in the head with his scout rifle.

When the two of them attempted to flee together, however, a Knight impaled Tikva through the back with his sword, dissolving her into light that was then slowly squeezed by the surrounding Darkness. Dakar knifed it to death with his Arc Blade super, but the second Ogre blasted most of his shields away with a single Void burst and Dregs and enslaved Thralls surrounded him, closing in for the kill.

The Hunter stood there in confusion for a second after he realized a Fallen, yes, a Fallen had shot his fellow Dregs with a shrapnel launcher and was using his arm to urge him towards the exit while Ayiana and Calore covered his route of retreat.

Dakar quickly revived Tikva, and then picked up the stunned Hunter woman, slung her over his shoulder, and triple jumped over to where they were.

"Traitor!" a dozen other Fallen cried and chased poor Kolee through the streets, leaving all the rest to be dispatched by the three Guardians. Shouts and gunfire bounced away into the nothingness unbearable silence claimed its place again.

Dakar laid Tikva down on the ground and immediately was hugged by Ayiana.

"Easy, sis- I still have a few scrapes I need to walk off," Dakar said and gently pushed her off, jocular even

"Sorry...I, I..."

"I know. It's good to see you too. But we should really get going. Your friend here saved my life. She almost got consumed and might need to go to the medbay, though."

"I'm fine, really," Tikva said and then coughed.

Ayiana shot a skeptical look at the friend who'd given her back her spiritual brother, but Tikva's Ghost emerged and said, "Vitals are normal, and she doesn't have any injuries that her shields can't repair soon."

In the midst of all this, Dakar patted Calore on the back and said, "Good to see you too, you big bucket of bolts."

Calore said nothing and took the team to orbit, dispatching any other pleasantries. Once again, Tikva passed out as her worried Ghost brought her back to her ship, but she could almost hear the deafening silence coming from both of the other ships.

* * *

"You have done well. I call you Kolee of House Judgement," Variks clicked as he found Kolee face down on the ground in a cavern. "Continue to keep your tracker with you, yes? Then I shall call you when I have need of you again."

The Captain stepped over his reluctant ally and was gone before the poor Dreg could even blink. Kolee groaned and fell asleep against a wall, hoping that he could get some rest in before he'd have to run from the Fallen machine (that now definitely knew he was to be expunged for his sins) once more.

This was going to be a long rest of his life.


	5. Chapter 5: Across the Void

**Chapter 5: Across the Void**

While the Fireteam had once again brought back valuable information that would aid the City in finding out what the Fallen were up to, Cayde-6 punished Tikva again because, while she'd found Xander's head, she hadn't actually repaired the Bounty Tracker, and its absence had nearly started a riot. The City Frames could not spare any Frames to replace him, and so bounties had been temporarily suspended. In response, for the past few hours, Tikva and her Ghost had been made to clean up the debris left behind by the melee while engineers in Tower Hangar scrambled to repair Xander.

On the roof of the Postmaster's building alone, Tikva found banana peels; torn up dirt and grass; half-eaten protein bars; spent ammunition casings (and thankfully, no gunpowder to go with it); a whole pile of strange coins; and even a set of legendary boots. It made Tikva chuckle to think of the poor Guardian, probably a Titan by the looks of the very wide and hollowed out greaves needed to accommodate a Titan's bulky legs, who was now going around barefoot. Why had he needed to throw his boots at someone, and how did they end up on the roof? The world would probably never know.

Her Ghost looked on at Tikva, utterly helpless to say anything, knowing she wasn't enjoying this and firmly resisting the temptation to lecture her at the moment.

But what the Ghost didn't know as Tikva gave a wistful glance at some other Guardians who were having a carefree game of soccer was that another indeterminable feeling was rising in the pit of her stomach. To even think about it made her muscles ache and operate like wet noodles operated by a sleepy puppeteer as she mechanically gathered up detritus.

Then the fan, once a source of profound joy for her, sharply exhaled and pushed her off onto a patch of warm mud, along with the strange coins.

"What are you looking at?" Xur growled to other confused Guardians as he stepped over the prone Guardian to gather up the coins with a greedy laugh, then disappeared just as quickly.

Mud and dust turned her short and already brown hair into an even darker brown pile of clay that was drying itself into pottery on her head. Her cape was dragged down by the goop. In every groove and crevice of her armor it seeped in and irritated the mesh shielding her skin from the outside world. Tikva then used what little strength she had left to push herself up from the muck before any pitying Guardians could offer their assistance, and then ran to the nearest corner that didn't have anyone in it, which was an out of the way balcony next to the Tower Hangar

Tikva collapsed into a pile of purple and red leaves blown over from the trees in the Tower by strong winds earlier this morning. They'd collected themselves into a small rut where grates collected rain water into the gutter. Now, her muddy tears fell through those tiny holes and hid themselves inside the still embrace of the rain water, as the leaves stuck to her face.

Her Ghost felt several pounds heavier when it left Tikva's armor and floated away. But it steeled its chassis for what it knew it had to do. As much as it felt distanced from Tikva's thoughts by events and feelings it could never truly understand, her little light knew just who might be able to help her.

* * *

"Calore?"

The Exo stood by the Tower Outfitter's closed shop, silently perusing the empty store and the capes, swaying in the gentle breeze on the metal trees lining the walls. It was a rainbow of cosmetic mer.

"Calore?!"

Still no response.

"At least talk to her, Calore-14!" said the other person with an impatient tone.

"Dakar," the Titan at last said, his boots thudding hard as he slowly pivoted to face his Awoken friend. "You've been on my Fireteam for a very, very long time. Do you really think that your cheap trick of addressing me by my full name will get me to forgive her?"

"Like I was saying, at least hear her out," Dakar said.

"I appreciate your sentiment because I know you are close with her. But why would I listen to anything she has to say? So she can tell me I'm a cold, uncaring r- machine again?" Calore growled. "Does she even know how I have had to feel every single time I brought you, her, and Tikva onto the front lines? And let's not forget the dozens of times I've seen people I've cared about torn apart.

"But for your sake, I never let the terror that courses through my circuits- which feel just as much pain and sorrow as any organic heart, I might add- rise to the surface. I have to be the single, unshakeable center of this Fireteam, or else all is lost. Do you understand what that's like? How it felt when she disobeyed me like that? Or how, when I lost you, then found you again, and then was told you were reassigned to a new Fireteam, I- I was destroyed in a way that hurt more than any bullet?"

Dakar stood there in stunned silence as the rest of the rant died within the Titan's voice processor, leaning on his sniper rifle to keep from toppling over. He'd known in the past that Exos were sensitive to being called machines or especially robots, as the term robot they were just as sentient as any human or Awoken, but seeing Calore, famous for being detached and calm, erupt like a volcano was mind-boggling.

"Oh, and do not breathe a single word of this to anyone," Calore fumed, nearly crushing his pulse rifle with his bare hands.

"I understand," the Hunter sighed, laying a reassuring hand on Calore-14's shoulder.

"As do I," emerged a familiar voice from a blue face framed by mournful and drooping purple hair as she hugged her brother.

"What are you doing here, Ayiana?" Calore asked.

"Letting you know that I am ready to accept any punishment that you have planned me for my insubordination," the Awoken said and bowed her head.

"Please be as lenient as possible. She as only trying to help me. If anything, it's my own stupid fault for letting myself get captured and putting everyone in danger," Dakar replied.

"I suppose you heard all of that," Calore said, not addressing Dakar's point and making a swallowing motion even though he didn't need to eat, or possess saliva. "Was that all?"

"No. You're not a r- well, you know," Ayiana said. "You don't always show it, but like you said, you care a great deal about us. I should never have doubted that for a second. I let my emotions carry me away, as I tend to do. That won't happen again."

"I wouldn't say that you should keep your emotions buried to the extent that I do, as I don't think it's possible for organic life forms such as yourself not to be overcome with emotion from time to time. Just be more mindful of your safety- if not for your sake, then, then for mine," Calore replied.

As Ayiana hugged Calore, Dakar, who was happy that his sister wasn't going to be punished, joined the group hug.

"OK, that's enough emotion for one day," Calore chuckled and broke them up.

"There you are, Ayiana," said a feminine computerized echo in the hallway of Tower North.

"What is it?" Ayiana asked the Ghost.

The machine's white appendages were wildly flinging themselves far from the equally white core, bound by a blue mist that ballooned the Ghost's size out to that of a soccer ball as it frantically cried, "Come quickly! Tikva needs your help!"

All three Guardians ran down the hallway as fast as they could and out into Tower Watch to try and find where their friend was.

* * *

At the same time, the Speaker was falling asleep on top of a pile of his drawings of planets, comets, and other astronomical bodies. This was one of the rare chances he had to escape all the demands made of him by Guardians, factions, janitors, and everyone in between.

"Sir?" his loyal Ghost inquired. "You have an incoming message from Petra Venj."

"Huh, er, wha? Um...read it out to me," the Speaker replied as he pulled himself back from unconsciousness and slipped his mask back onto the proper place on his head.

"She told me that it was better if she relayed it to you in person."

In person? Not that the Speaker minded seeing Petra in person. After all, she'd become a good friend of his ever since she first started establishing tentative relations between The Last City and The Reef. However, she usually delivered messages (and his clandestine letters) without speaking of the contents in front of him. So what message was so important that its contents had to be presented in such a direct manner? He contemplated this as he began to tidy up his cluttered desk as best he could.

"There's no need for that. This isn't a formal diplomatic visit," a female said to him while she ascended the stairs to his office.

The voice sounded familiar, but not like Petra. The Speaker was, for the first time in a long time, very, very confused.

Then a robe was pulled back, and the mystery was solved in seconds. White hair spilled out over a soft purple face that was now bisected by an equally familiar smirk from darker purple lips, and brilliant blue eyes stared deep into the Speaker's own, sending everything that needed to be said through his heart, his tingling skin, and his weakening legs.

As he rose from his chair, he rubbed his lover's shoulders through her armor. She seized his hand from off of her shoulder, not to push it away, but to enfold it warmly and firmly within her own.

"Formal visit or not...I still appreciate it," the Speaker smiled behind the enigma of his mask as she drew him inextricably into his bedchambers.

"My Queen," he whispered to himself when the door closed behind the both of them.

* * *

When the Guardians and the Ghost finally found Tikva, still covered in leaves and mud and still rocking back and forth and sobbing to herself in the gutter, Calore found himself inadequate to address the task at hand and apologized as he excused himself. Dakar wanted to help, but with a single press on his shoulder Ayiana communicated what she needed to do, and Dakar and Tikva's Ghost both obliged.

"Hey," the Warlock said in as soothing a tone as she could.

"Ayiana?" Tikva wondered, her eyes bleary with sorrow.

Then when she recognized her friend, the human curled into an even tighter fetal position and demanded, "Go away."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"N-n-no," Tikva finally conceded, secretly appreciating that Ayiana was willing to help her up into a sitting position and tenderly wipe some of the caked mud off of her cheek.

"Tikva, please, I'm your friend and Fireteam squadmate. Tell me, what's wrong?" the Awoken woman asked after she cleared enough mud off of her

Tikva tried to form words, but her tongue was not her friend as she beheld Ayiana's face. It almost glowed in the moonlight, the fainter light from the Traveler, and the lights of the City below. On top of that her silky purple hair had an ethereal glow of its own.

"Nothing."

In the face of Ayiana's withering skepticism, the young and nervous woman changed her story. "I- I just- I feel like a failure on today's mission again. I almost got us all killed."

"You could not be more mistaken. You didn't get us killed," Ayiana firmly replied. "In fact, you did pretty much the opposite of killing us. You, Tikva, are a strong and courageous Hunter who saved me, Calore, and also my brother. You have no idea how grateful I am for all you've done."

Tikva sighed as she realized that the game was up. "I'm not really upset about that."

"I figured."

"Don't get me wrong, it feels good to do something right for a change," Tikva sighed. "But, when I was dead...in- in the Darkness Zone...it was like I couldn't breathe again. Only it was my whole soul that couldn't breathe, if that makes any sense, and it was squeezing me tighter and tighter, even though I didn't have a body to squeeze any more. There were so many voices yelling and weeping, I was falling forever, it smelled rancid, I was lost for what seemed like centuries, cut off from you..."

She cried into Ayiana's soft neck now, but the Warlock didn't seem to mind that it was slightly muddy.

"And then all of a sudden," Tikva continued when she composed herself, "I was in front of the warmest fire I've ever felt and could see again, breathe, walk, and feel again. I think that was when you got me out. If you guys hadn't done that, I think I'd still be trapped in there, and I'd be nothing but a scream."

"That 'there' you're describing," Ayiana said. "That's the Void. I believe that's where the Darkness lives, and where it keeps the souls of all the billions of people its armies killed in the Collapse, and all the Guardians it consumes."

"Oh, by the Traveler," Tikva cried. "That's horrible."

"Listen to me," Ayiana replied and steadied her friend's shoulders before she could sob again.

She wasn't quite sure how to comfort Tikva since no one she knew had ever been sucked that far into the Void, so she started saying the first thing that came to her mind. "I, all Warlocks really, can sense the Void all around us."

"So you feel like I did...all the time?"

"Not as intensely, but sometimes it..." Ayiana said.

She was about to say, "Shows up in my nightmares and breathes down my neck when I'm awake, and sometimes the only relief I can get is going to the Tower Library," but realized that would be a bit much for her clearly shaken friend.

"Look, never mind. The point is, even if you had been taken, I would go across the Void to rescue you. It's only been done a few times before, but I can do it, I know it. And don't worry about getting replaced once Dakar is fit for combat; I'd force them to allow four people on our Fireteam. So no matter what happens, I'll never leave you behind."

Tikva didn't say outright that she was worried about that, but it seemed like Ayiana was attuned to the deepest thoughts and even fears of any person's heart, and so had a keen sense of just what would make anyone feel better.

"That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," the Hunter smiled.

"See, there you go. You don't need to cry when I'm here," Ayiana replied and kissed her cheek where a tear was rolling down. Tikva could have sworn her Awoken friend also whispered, "You look so beautiful when you're smiling" as her cheek heated up.

"What I do want you worrying about," Ayiana added after enjoying a moment of dead air, "is getting yourself cleaned up. To the showers with you. And if I'm being honest, with me as well. I'm starting to smell myself in this armor."

"But I was really starting to like my persona of Leaf Monster! Rrrargh!" Tikva cried, standing up just then and pinning Ayiana on her back before getting as much mud as possible on her friend's armor with an evil laugh.

"I'm serious!" Ayiana laughed as mud and leaves were smeared on her face and she had to spit some of it. She was just glad the Tikva she'd come to know was back.

"Oh, OK, fine," Tikva said while pretending to roll her eyes as Ayiana led her to the showers.

* * *

It had started with a thank you note. A very formal, handwritten letter of appreciation from one head of state to the other for the Queen's help in giving the Guardians the information they needed to destroy the Black Garden and stop the Vex from taking over the entire Solar System. Then he received a very courteous reply from her, and he thought that, considering the isolationist nature of the Reef, that would be the end of most communication between the two settlements.

But then Petra Venj established an emissary in the City and brought with her plenty of questions asked by the Queen herself about what life was like there. The Speaker endeavored to answer her questions and supplied some of his, and so it went for a few more months with Petra as the intermediary in their correspondence.

Then, with a heavy heart, Petra had informed him that Skolas had led the Fallen House of Wolves to betray the Queen and were leading a bloody uprising against the Reef (that would, in time, balloon into a campaign that devastated the other Fallen Houses and shattered Vex control over the Vault of Glass). The first thing the Speaker had done, without any thought about how this would benefit the City, was to sneak onto the Reef in Guardian armor to check in on the woman who had grown to be somewhat of a friend to him.

He'd found her sitting on a throne that had still some of its edges caked in Fallen blood, surrounded the dead and the dying and circled by an angry brother that was rounding up Crows to hunt down the Wolves. Then, only suspecting he was a Guardian in Titan armor, she'd let him have a private audience with her.

That was when he revealed that he was the Speaker of the Last City, the Voice of the Traveler.

She'd admonished him to go, that it wasn't safe for him to be here.

He'd told her that he only wanted to make sure she was OK.

She'd lashed out at him at first, demanding to know why it was his business how she was feeling, but when he didn't react poorly like she'd expected him to, the Queen caved. She told the Speaker her anger at the Wolves who had returned her generosity towards them with rebellion, how many of her dearest friends and subjects had paid for it with their lives, and her own doubts that she could possibly handle this on her own.

The Speaker, a man who was so composed in his writing and (from what Petra told her) in person, surprised her by telling her that he'd been through the same thing. When the Earth, the last bastion of the United Solar States, fell to the Fallen and the Traveler sacrificed itself in an explosion of pure Light to stop the Darkness at the Battle of Ten Thousand Suns, it appointed him, a mere human clerk in the Tower, as the Speaker.

Then, just months after the Darkness retreated and he'd taken on this awesome responsibility, Dead Orbit, the Future War Cult, and the New Monarchy began a power struggle against each other and himself over the last scraps of human civilization called the Faction Wars. He'd felt just how she was feeling now, he told her, and it had almost cost him every Guardian he had to bring an end to the infighting and build a Consensus to fight the Darkness.

She'd sat there astounded that he could relate to her in such a way, and he'd briefly noticed how she was trying her hardest to make herself composed and serene, like her face had been. He also knew what it was like to have to put on a mask, in every sense of the phrase. Then she'd wondered if it would be possible for the Guardians to help track down and capture (not kill, she emphasized) Skolas.

He at last said it would be his honor to be able to repay her. After all, when the Fallen united and attacked the City again at the Battle of Twilight Gap twenty years ago, when she'd first taken the throne, she'd intervened and broke the power of the Wolves, helping along with Lord Shaxx to turn the tide and save the City once more. It was only right.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, she'd kissed him and for the first time since he'd lost his wife in battle against the armies of the Darkness all those centuries ago, the Speaker felt something other than the terrible burden he'd carried for eons. And now he had someone to share it with.

* * *

The Speaker smiled and stroked her hair as she lay on top of him, sleeping soundly while possessively hugging him to her chest in a way that he found cute, like her lover would slip away for good if she didn't hang on tight. But he had no intention of doing so.

"Hello, Alex," she whispered into his pale yet strong neck as she began to wake up from the hour long cat nap she'd needed after her long journey and...exercise.

"Hello, Mara. Did you have a nice nap?" he whispered back and kissed her. She nodded.

He loved how they could be so informal with each other. They were the only two people who both knew each other's names and would be so bold as to say them to each other. And in so many different contexts, to put it mildly. When in each other's company, they could just be Alex and Mara, two ordinary people with no titles to bear and no expectations or demands to be met.

"Is something on your mind?" Mara wondered.

"How did you guess?" Alex muttered softly into her hair. Mara smirked at this.

"Yes, I do have something on my mind. I am overjoyed that you decided to come here, but why did you, when the political ramifications if anyone found out are astronomical?"

"Why did you come to the Reef so many times before, when you took just as much of a risk crossing dangerous space to see me?"

"Because...because...every time I'm with you, Mara, my heart is finally at peace."

"You have your answer, then. I feel the same way." Mara then sighed as she looked up at him. "And I could tell from your letter that you were pained to not be able to visit me while dealing with this Causeway issue. I realized then that I had been unfair to you all this time when you've been so patient with me."

"You haven't been, but nonetheless, as I said, I am glad you arrived," Alex replied. "As much fun as I've had tonight, we should probably get you back to the Reef as soon as possible..."

"You mean before my brother finds out? Let me worry about Uldren. Besides, I've sent him and his Crows on an urgent mission to track down one of the remaining Wolves. He won't be back for at least a day or two. Of course, yes, I do need to get back to the Reef, but not for a few hours."

"That's good."

He was about to ask what she wanted to do, but he soon gained a pretty clear idea of what that might be when she traced a finger on his collar bone and gave a wry grin. It looked like her nap had been refreshing after all.

One of these days, he hoped that an alliance could be forged between the City and the Reef, not only for the benefit and mutual protection of their two nations against the Darkness, but so that he could be with her and go on proper romantic outings without any cloak and dagger. The fact that she'd, at his suggestion, opened the Reef to the Guardians and that the Guardians had helped the Reef defeat the Wolves had made things easier for them both, but it also had provoked the Reef's nobles, so she couldn't do anything more drastic without assuaging them first.

But for now, he was perfectly content to hold her and be hers in any way that she wished.

Especially right now...

* * *

"Oh goodness, that feels soooo much better," Tikva groaned in the communal showers as the hot water sprayed from the ceiling, seeped through her hair, and the mud and dust that caked her body was banished to the floor where it quickly was sucked down the drain. Meanwhile her Ghost was cleaning her armor in a different room.

"Tell me about it," Ayiana said, spreading soap suds all over her body to get rid of built up sweat and grease. "Wait a minute, you still have plenty of mud on you!"

"Wait, do I?" the Hunter wondered as she dug her nails down into the scalp to try to claw any mud out from off the top of her head, then bent over and shook her head directly in the stream.

"Oh, my bad!" Tikva gasped after she accidentally got little droplets of muddy water directly on Ayiana's face. Then she made up for it by wiping it off of her blue face gently with her hands.

"That's OK. I think you got most of it. Just these last tiny bits here-" Ayiana said and brushed off some mud that was stuck behind Tikva's ears, but they simply landed on Tikva's shoulders and arms.

Ayiana brushed those off and then declared, "All set" and turned off the water.

Tikva jumped a little when Ayiana did that, as though microscopic grenades had gone off up and down her spine. She wasn't nervous at all, as she'd showered communally with all the other non-Exo Guardians (Exos went to oil baths in the Tower Hangar to be cleaned). She was being swept up by a cyclone of warmth, excitement, and something else that she couldn't put her finger on.

"Thanks," Tikva barely managed not to stammer. "I'll see you tomorrow." Then they parted ways with a smile on both their parts and Tikva hurriedly got back into her armor and went to her quarters, eager to get to sleep after a long, frightening, and confusing day.

* * *

Dakar was sitting on some boxes on a staircase in Tower Watch, knees pulled up to his chest, watching the spaceships go by as they left behind white contrails that sliced across the glowing face of the Traveler. Even that was exhausting now, though, and he plopped on his back, limbs sprawled everywhere.

"Hey," Calore said. "I was wondering where you were."

"Is...what's her name? For some reason I forget her name. Shoot," the Hunter grunted.

"Tikva? Yes, she's alright. And it's fine- you just met her, after all," Calore replied. Then the Titan frowned at his human friend. "Penny for your thoughts, I believe the human expression goes?"

"I just, I know that I have to go back into the Crucible before I can go back into the field, especially after what I went through," Dakar said. "And I also know that Ayiana has promised to see me as often as she can. But it just isn't the same, you know what I mean?"

The two of them had almost been completely inseparable from the moment they revived until now. They knew each other so well that by now they could carry on entire conversations just with a few silent nods and body language. They'd been there to revive each other in almost every battle, comforted each other when during his breakups with his girlfriends and boyfriends or hers with her girlfriends Now he was unmoored from his anchor and cast adrift.

Calore laid a whirring artificial hand around Dakar's shoulders, then shook his prone body for a second and said, "I know exactly what you mean. Fortunately, you can get used to the disjointing that comes with every transition to a new Fireteam without any of them having died first."

"Yeah, there is that, at least," Dakar said.

"You know what Ayiana told me ages ago that she always wanted for us to do if any one of us ever moved to a different Fireteam?" Calore thought out loud.

"What's that?"

"A going away party in the City."

"Oh, she proposed this?"

"Yep," Exo coughed out in his stilted attempt to say the human vernacular word and not sound so stiff ALL the time. "A few friends of mine have suggested some interesting places to go to in better parts of the City. What do you think?"

"You don't have to do that on my account," Dakar said. Especially since he secretly and perhaps selfishly hoped that this would not be goodbye forever, and that the new girl would be transferred elsewhere

"Even if Ayiana doesn't insist on it (and she probably will), then I will myself," Calore said. "Get some rest, Dakar. We're going to not be killing things for once."

"Yay!" Dakar said weakly before passing out on the boxes. Calore just chuckled to himself, slinging the young and drained Hunter over his shoulders and bringing him back to their quarters.


	6. Chapter 6: The Hidden Wishes

**Chapter 6: The Hidden Wishes**

Exos didn't need sleep. Once a month, Calore-14 would need to cycle off and then on for about minute in order to clear his memory cache, but that was about it. Thus, he was the perfect volunteer to wake up everybody for their day long outing in the city.

Exos didn't technically need to blink either, but waking up with a tall blue mechanical Titan standing over and staring at you would be intimidating for anyone. He believed it was referred to as the "uncanny valley effect." So he did so periodically to make it easier on his organic friends

They also didn't need to yawn, or have hair that would require grooming, or mumble while half-asleep as Tikva seemed to do when Calore shook the hunter to try to get her to wake up.

"Alright, alright, I'm up. What's...yawn...going on?" Tikva wondered and rubbed the cruft out of her eyes after some relentless shaking.

"Today's Dakar's last day before he transfers to his new Fireteam."

"Aw, that sucks. Are we doing anything special for him?"

"We're going on a day trip to the City."

"Yes! Awesome. One day where something isn't trying to kill us for once," Tikva smiled with an energy that surprised the Exo considering how sleepy she'd seemed before.

"Alright, the place I've found is a black tie, so go to the Outfitter to find something suitable to wear and be at the shuttle to the Core in thirty minutes," Calore replied sternly.

The moment he turned away and walked out into the hallway, Tikva clasped at her chest, her breathing labored in the shadows of her room. She was lucky that she'd only mumbled while attempting to fight off the nightmares induced by yesterday's action instead of screamed, otherwise Calore would have kept her away from today's festivities. And once she found a corner of light to stand in, the threads of malevolence that still clung at her essence after barbing themselves into her heart were pushed back for now.

Never mind that, though. There was no amount of Darkness that could keep Tikva the Hunter from having fun with her friends, especially in the second brand new place she'd seen in as many days. So she drilled down deep within herself to extract pure resolve, forced herself to stand up ramrod straight for the first time, and got in her armor as she went to see Eva Levante the Outfitter in Tower North.

"Well, hello there, Hunter. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Eva asked in a smooth Eastern European accent once the young Guardian arrived at the small booth she had owned operated for at least a decade.

"What's a 'black tie affair'?" Tikva wondered as her eyes drifted around the vast selection of cloaks, armor, suits, and dresses, wondering which one might

"Ah, shore leave to the City?" This was met with a nod.

"Actually, this is good, very good. Stay right there. I have some things I want to model on you."

Tikva gulped as she leaned against a post.

* * *

Dakar was also leaning against a wall, trying his best to hide a sullen grimace as they waited for the shuttle in the Tower Bay. He appreciated Calore's effort in setting up such an elaborate itinerary (and in managing to squeeze his chassis into a suit and tie, which had earned quite the guffaws from his Fireteam comrades.)

He would've preferred to quietly have a few shots of spirit blooms with Ayiana and share war stories. But that wasn't it. As the time that he was waiting for the shuttle shrank, he couldn't help but break out into cold sweats.

This was real.

It was happening soon, whether he liked it or not.

He'd have to say goodbye to the only family he'd ever known.

Ayiana could innately sense her Awoken brother's distress as the minutes bled away, but for the first time in a long while, words failed her when it came to how to make him feel better, and the normally calm and logical Warlock couldn't figure out why.

"Oh, where is she?" Calore-14 grumbled, checking his watch.

"I can contact her Ghost if you like," Calore's Ghost whirred.

"No, let's give her a few more minutes. I'm sure she's on her way," Ayiana replied, to which Dakar gave a stressed sigh.

"We don't have a few more minutes. The shuttle has just arrived!" Calore exclaimed, then pointed at the shuttle, which was a rusted, creaking, ponderously floating ship that could have fit about two dozen.

By Calore's estimate, there were at least sixty Guardians packed into this sardine can, and almost a hundred readying themselves to charge in like. This made the Exo very nervous.

"This station is: Tower Bay. This is the Red Line shuttle to: Tower Core," the mechanical voice wheezed from the worn microphone as it came to a stop. "The next station is: District 125. Step back to allow customers to exit. When boarding, please move to the center of the car."

"Wait! Stop the shuttle!" a female Hunter desperately cried, attempting to sprint with tall black heels on, as her Ghost attempted to communicate with the shuttle driver to hold off just a little bit longer.

"Tikva, you made it!" Ayiana cried as dozens of Guardians attempted to pour into the overflowing bucket that was the shuttle. "Hurry!"

Calore used his metallic body as a battering ram to push through the crowd and give Ayiana, Dakar, and Tikva some space to try to enter.

"Stand back doors clo, clo, clo, clo, clo, closing," the automated doors stuttered as they slammed on his broad shoulders again and again, scuffing his suit until he finally squeezed himself in and pulled his three friends in with him. Him and Dakar were pushed off to one side of the car and Ayiana and Tikva went off to another side.

"Well, this is quite cozy," Tikva's Ghost chuckled as it floated up to the ceiling with the other Ghosts and rested its chassis on the metallic beam going across it where dozens of Guardians were hanging on for dear life, their arms put through the most painful test of their lives as the lucky few who were sinking into the decaying seats looked on in fear.

"Wish I could say the same thing," Tikva gasped as her arms were pinned at her sides for. "On the upside, though, I don't have to hang in order to stand up," she added with a small smile.

"True, true," Ayiana laughed into Tikva's hair as the two of them were crushed together. "Oh, by the way, in all the confusion, I didn't get a chance to say that your outfit- you look...cut, I mean cute." She said this while looking at Tikva's long, flowing black dress and thought that nice was quite the understatement.

"Thanks. I'll have to talk to the Outfitter about these high heels though. They're impossible to walk in." But then again, Tikva had only ever worn combat boots. While not comfortable, she also didn't have to balance on her toes every time she

"We're going to a nice part of town, so I don't think that'll be a problem."

"That's good. I should also thank her, though, for picking your outfit. It looks gorgeous on you!...I, I suppose anyway. I wouldn't know, I mean...yeah," Tikva blushed when she remarked about the white dress that went down to the Awoken woman's knees.

"Thanks," Ayiana beamed, Tikva forgetting how to breathe as the two women were pushed together even more. At the same time, though, when that happened a small glimpse from the windowsill of the shuttle at District 125 became visible as they were moved closer to it, alongside a holographic advertisement that said, "The Crucible. Do it now."

Tikva chuckled at Lord Shaxx's dry and direct mannerisms, then stood with her mouth agape as her eyes absorbed the entirety of the District below through a closer view than she could ever get. It was an endless sea of tin roofed shanties piled high, bisected by arterial highways towering over dirt pathways that barely resembled roads and had to accommodate thousands of centuries old cars grunting as they crawled along to their destinations. Off in the distance, she could barely see even more worn and faded signs in Russian, several stray dogs and cats begging for food alongside people wallowing in filth, and tiny, frightened eyes of children

That awe turned into worry rapidly. Her heart felt stabbed by those invisible barbs again as one of the main roads was blocked by two lines of a few hundred protestors each, each carrying signs made of soggy cardboard with slogans crudely scribbled in charcoal.

"We want food!"

"Down with the Speaker!"

"Traveler go home!"

"Dead Orbit will bring us to safety!"

"The City Police will take care of this. It's not a matter for Guardians to get involved in," Ayiana replied firmly as she knew what Tikva was thinking. She was thinking it herself.

"But why not?" Tikva asked, trying to keep herself calm. After all, weren't Guardians supposed to help keep the peace? What was the point of just doing so across the Solar System if nobody in the city saw the benefits of that peace, she wondered?

"I...don't know, really," Ayiana sighed. "But look, here they come," she said, pointing out dozens of Sparrows carrying CPD officers who attempted to. She seemed insincere in her confidence that things would turn out alright.

Tikva only responded by placing a gentle hand on Ayiana's shoulder in a feeble attempt to reassure her friend. However, Ayiana appreciated it, as evidenced by a small, closed smile.

A pall of silence fell over all the Guardians as the ship rumbled on to its appointed route unaware of the tensing of the fabric of the City below. A few minutes later, the ship arrived at the Core and Tikva's awe returned as she saw the underside of the Traveler.

She'd figured the ancient, sentient structure would be bigger up close than seeing it from the Tower, but it was incredible how much more imposing and grand it was in person. She felt just as insignificant as those small rodents she'd occasionally seen scurrying across Old Russia's steppes when compared to the towering abandoned structures they lived beneath. At the same time,

"Now arriving at station: City Core. Please watch the gap between the shuttle and the platform. Thank you for riding with CityAir, and have a good day," the ship wheezed before unceremoniously dispensing with the remaining Guardians to enjoy their shore leave and chugging away to the next station.

"We're a block away from our reservation. Let's move out," Calore said with almost grim determination.

"This looks pretty nice," Ayiana mused as she saw the Viva Romana Italian Restaurant building, which was decorated in chrome and gaudily colorful plastics with a picture of a strange, meaty sandwich with twin pieces of bread and thin slices of potatoes adorning it.

When they tried to enter, though, a short and portly man barked at them, "The end of the line is this way, chuckleheads!" Then he added under his breath, "Guardians..."

The line stretched for several blocks in the opposite direction. Calore was content to grumble to himself about this as they were jammed into yet another crowd, while Dakar stared at and occasionally kicked rocks into a small puddle near his feet.

Tikva could sense the silence descending over everyone again, and in response she piped up, "So, you guys were going to tell me about that one annoying strike you were on?"

"Oh yes, I remember we were...no, wait, Dakar, you tell it. You always tell this story better than me," Ayiana chuckled.

"OK," Dakar said sheepishly. "Well, our mission on that strike was to take down UKTAR THE MIGHTY!" he then boomed.

"For those of you who don't know UKTAR THE MIGHTY was this huge Hive Knight under the Cosmodrome with a sword as big as a ship!" he then cried as an audience of small children and their parents gathered around to see the Guardian tell his legendary tale of heroic exploits.

"After landing just outside his lair, we fought a hundred Fallen and Hive at once and defeated them all handily. Turns out the Fallen were interested found a big, dark, and spooky cave there didn't seem to be any Hive there, at least until my friend Calore found what appeared to be a dead Hallowed Thrall lying on the floor in front of him.

"Hey, there was no way I could have known," Calore grumbled.

"Suddenly, the Thrall shrieked its last and I tackled Calore before it could explode in his face. Then three dozen Wizards-"

"One dozen," Ayiana coughed. That number of Wizards was one dozen too many in her, hence her coining of the operation as "that annoying strike."

"Ahem, ONE dozen Wizards popped into view, with horrifying shrieks, and had us surrounded and were firing off lightning everywhere. We fought them and what seemed like a Finally who should crash through the wall but-"

"UKTAR THE MIGHTY!" the kids squealed in horrified delight. Tikva smiled at this. She'd only heard from the Speaker about how "the children were frightened anyway" by the stories of what evils lurked in the Darkness. But if they were afraid, they didn't show it now.

"And he clomped, and he stomped, and he ROOOOAAAARED and swung his colossal sword!" Dakar proclaimed. The kids were on the edge of their toes trying to lean in and listen in on what happened next. "And you know what we did?"

"WHAT?"

"I backed into a wall which accidentally set off my grenade! Thinking fast, brave Ayiana-" his sister giggled at this- "spun around and kicked my grenade right at him. Just as he tried to bring down his sword, ended up swallowing the grenade and then BOOM! His sword barely missed our heads and landed in a wall. UKTAR THE MIGHTY was not so mighty any more!"

"Yaaaay!"

"And that's the story of the Great Annoying Strike," Dakar said as the kids and parents in the crowd (and Tikva) gave a resounding round of applause and cheered.

"That was awesome!" Tikva cried as everyone else began to dissipate.

"I suppose it was..." Calore mumbled. "After you saved my life," he then grinned.

"Hey everybody," the manager cried as he realized that he could keep the crowd that had been drawn in. "We have a legendary discount on every item on the menu, in honor of the heroic Guardians!"

Then he whispered to Ayiana, "Oh, and you guys go on ahead. A table just opened up."

"You should tell stories of your bravery more often," the Warlock teased her brother as a few people grumbled when the Guardians cut the line.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Dakar grinned.

Tikva soon regaled him with a seemingly endless barrage of questions about their past war stories, and Dakar realized as he spun even more yarns of his and his team's near misses, epic sniper kills from a thousand yards away, that maybe this outing wasn't going out with Ayiana for drinks, but this wasn't so bad.

Even the new girl wasn't AS annoying as he'd thought at first. And at least her wide eyed curiosity kept him from thinking about all the anger and sadness and despair. For a moment, he got to pretend for this one eager new audience member that he had actually made a difference. And she also felt more included as a result...

Soon, all stories came to a close when the menu was brought forward.

"Oh, this Italian fried chicken looks really good," Ayiana smiled.

"Or how about the really authentic Italian cheeseburger with ketchup? Ooh, tempting," Dakar grinned as well.

"I've never tried anything spicy before- the Italian ribs with spicy barbecue sauce look really delicious," Tikva added.

"Now THIS is the kind of new thing you should be trying," Tikva's Ghost chirped at her.

"Ha. Ha," Tikva replied dryly while also chuckling silently to herself.

"Just don't be surprised if it comes back to bite you later," came the teasing voice of Dakar's Ghost.

"It was one time, guys," Dakar blushed at his Ghost. "And I'm sure she'll be fine. I'm pretty sure the problem was that it wasn't properly prepared, not just that it was spicy."

"Well, I can't fault them for the decor. It looks very...Italian," Ayiana said sarcastically as the chassis of a dead Minotaur hung over the table, which was bathed, like the rest of the place, in garish yellow light

"Hello my name is...um, AHEM, and I'll be taking care of you today," said a blue armored Exo woman.

"Good to meet you, Umahem," Calore said as he suddenly found himself caught up in her gaze and tried not to stare.

"I'm ready if you want to take my order," Tikva said, and everybody else nodded.

"Um...hrm...I'll just have a can of oil if you please, Ahem," Calore said after the rest of the Guardians ordered their organic food. "My throat seems to be a little dry."

Ten minutes later, the Exo woman returned with their food. While everybody else found it amazing that their food was ready so quickly, he admired how graceful she looked while carrying three plates of food- one on each arm and one on her head.

"Oh, yes! Thank you," Dakar said. But before he could dig in, she took her robotic arm, chopped the burger in half, and took one of the halves

"Wait, what's going on?"

"This is I was told I would get a whole, authentic Italian cheeseburger for 40 glimmer," Dakar said.

"Normally it would be 80 glimmer for the burger," the server glowered at him.

"But like I said, it's a half a burger. And-" he said, lifting off the bun- "it has no condiments on it. I wasn't told that would be the case when I ordered this item," Dakar grumbled.

Tikva had half the barbecue ribs she'd been promised and no sauce, and Ayiana's chicken wasn't even fried. Plus Calore complained that the oil was really greasy.

"You can all get the rest back if you drink a verification can made of real Italian energy drink for another 40 glimmer," the waitress replied. Then she shoved the blood red concoction in his face and he coughed.

"That means I'd basically get no discount and I'd have re-buy something I already paid for," Dakar said.

"I could pull up a picture of the rest of the burger and you would throw money at the screen."

"And why do you say that?"

"We're a fine dining establishment that prides ourself on top notch food and decor."

Dakar scoffed as he looked around the dark place full of confused, angry, and noisy customers and Minotaur corpses. The rest of them were fuming at all this.

"You could drink it, wait for three hours to order the rest of the food, or leave."

"Why?"

"Just drink the verification can!"

"Can I please talk to the manager about this?"

"No."

"Why in the world can't I-?"

"I have no time to explain why I have no time to explain."

"But you could have just explained why that was the case in the time it took you to say that!"

"Undercover mission or no, this isn't worth it! Goodbye!" the waitress muttered under her breath as she disappeared into thin air.

"Let's leave," Calore grumbled. "Sorry about that. Looks like my sources were wrong."

"Psst...over here, Guardians. Sorry the restaurant wasn't that great," a Frame said to them as they left the restaurant. They approached it cautiously, as normally Frames weren't found outside the city. "There's a great place you can go to for 20 glimmer. Follow me."

Skeptical and readying their supers if this turned out to be a trap, the Guardians followed the Frame.

"Here we are," it smiled when they arrived outside the place, as much as Frames without movable mouths could smile. "That will be 20 glimmer, please."

Calore sighed as he and everybody else handed over the money, hoping against hope that maybe he wouldn't be screwed.

"Welcome to The Wish Dragon."

"Wish Dragon? What are you on about?" Calore wondered.

"Tell your deepest desires to the Wish Dragon, and he will make them come true," the Frame said.

"You're crazy," Tikva laughed.

"That's saying something coming from you," Ayiana teased.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tikva teased back.

"Oh, nothing...you silly person," Ayiana smirked and elbowed her friend in the arm.

"When have I ever- never mind," Tikva laughed uncontrollably now as she remembered all the times she'd been a little bit nutty.

"Well, if you're done horsing around, what should we do about this?" Calore wondered.

"Well, it doesn't hurt to try it out, right?" Dakar wondered. "

"And," Tikva pointed out, "if it turns out they're lying, we can arrest them."

"No, we actually can't. The City Police are the law around here, remember? We should call them if we find anything suspicious."

"Makes sense," Tikva nodded with a sigh.

Calore shrugged, hoping he wouldn't regret this. But this day couldn't get much worse after the beautiful Umahem had simply up and disappeared.

"Right- Exos first," Dakar chuckled.

* * *

"Come in, oh traveler mine, and give to me your most buried dreams," a voice rumbled from deep within the completely dark building.

"Who are you?"

"I am the Wish Dragon. That is all you need know."

Calore grumbled as he attempted to figure out how the convincingly reptilian voice could be manipulated by human devices.

"So..." Then he paused.

"So. You are a man of few words, it would appear."

Calore-14 started to correct him, but then thought better of it.

"Something is...off about this place," Calore's Ghost, normally analytical and exacting, trembled. "I can feel

"I wish that I could have the power to protect everyone on my squad," Calore said in his mind in a brief moment of vulnerability. "I don't know long I can continue to do that for."

"I will help you fill the world with strength."

"Hey! How did you...?" There was no logical way that it could have known what he was thinking. Unless

"But in doing, you will be forced to make a choice that you will always regret."

The Exo's processes froze for a second.

"I agree," Calore said firmly to his Ghost, without showing whoever- or whatever- was in there that he had been rattled in the slightest. "Let's get out of here."

* * *

"Come in, oh traveler mine, and give to me your most buried dreams," the Wish Dragon next told Dakar.

"So how does this work? Do I just say I wish..." the Hunter wondered.

"No, you cannot wish for more wishes. But yes, that's the general formatting of a wish, oh traveler mine."

"Then, then I wish that I can still see my old Fireteam when I get transferred to my new one,

"How very straightforward of you," the rumbling, ancient intonations replied. "I will help you fill the world with camaraderie."

"I've read stories of genies and Rumpelstiltskin that survived the Collapse, and there's no way that you can twist this wish using double meanings or fine print or anything like that."

"No, you're right. There's no way I can 'twist' your desires, as you say."

"Well, that was a waste of 20 glimmer."

"But as for you...we shall see..." the Ahamkara laughed as the Awoken man left and it chafed against its chains, waiting for the next wisher to slip up.

"Come in, oh traveler mine, and give to me your most buried dreams."

* * *

No sooner had Ayiana entered then the edges of her vision started to turn black, and she knelt to the ground, her lungs burning up from the inside.

There were also insistent voices that called out to her, "REALITY IS DELICIOUS!"

"I wish, I wish to know how to cross the Void, to uncover its secrets," she boldly proclaimed as she stood up, leaning against the wall while feeling like the whole world was leaning back on her.

"I will help you fill the world with knowledge. But be careful of pouring the ocean in a cup."

"Guardian, are you alright?" her Ghost wondered.

"I just need some air," Ayiana coughed. She held her head for a little bit to stop the world from spinning, pushed the dust out of her hair, and then attempted to compose herself and slowly stumbled outside.

* * *

Tikva had immediately become nervous when she saw Ayiana look very pale. She rushed to her friend's side and held her shaking form. The Warlock had insisted to her that she had encountered some sort of allergen- pollen or something like that? In any case, Tikva was skeptical, but curiosity led her to get her 20 glimmer's worth and step inside, her Golden Gun at the ready.

The darkness inside the building reminded her of the stench, of the screams, of the fear that had almost consumed her on the Moon. But she had to be brave. She'd come this far, and she would never, ever even entertain the thought of running again. Especially not for something as simple and probably fake as a talking dragon.

"Come in, oh traveler mine, and give to me your most buried dreams," something hissed at her.

"I- I have no dreams," Tikva stammered helplessly.

"Come now, surely you do. All of the race of humanity have wishes. It is what makes you human," this strange Wish Dragon chuckled.

"Well, I had wished to hear a talking dragon. Wish granted," Tikva said, fortifying herself with sarcasm as she clenched her fists, searching for whatever this thing that had clearly hurt Ayiana was, and where it might be hiding.

"How clever. But I am not talking about that kind of wish."

"I wish that all those children, all those people in the city can have food and support from the City. Otherwise, what's the point of this war? If everyone becomes miserable, then life can't be anything more than despair for them. If that's the case, hasn't the Darkness already won?"

"Not even that kind of wish. Something deeper lurks within you. I cannot help you, traveler, if you will not give me anything to grant."

"Maybe I don't want your help," Tikva said as the very folds of her grey matter gave off warning signals that something intangible was poking and prodding her subconscious.

She took a deep breath and said, "How could I wish for anything? I was dead and alone for centuries. Then I was found, brought into the Light. I now have helped make a difference in this war against the Darkness. I have people who care about me, who I would do anything for."

"Then why don't you leave?" the Wish Dragon purred, sensing there was something missing in her words that his telepathic magic began to dredge around for.

"I- I..." Tikva squeaked and began to cry as her mind's defenses buckled.

"Guardian, are you there?" Tikva's Ghost whirred worriedly as she stood in place. Even the tiny robot that had been bonded to her very soul could not figure out what was going with her psyche right now.

"Hmmm...what have we here?" the Ahamkara grinned. With a flick of its centuries old, wormy tongue it fished her thoughts to the surface. "I will help you fill the world with-"

Tikva was filled with warmth when she remembered Ayiana helping her out of the muck she'd put herself in. A warmth that she couldn't describe, but was mixed with pure joy. She blushed as some part of her, consciously or no, realized what he had found, and then snapped.

She pulled out her Golden Gun with a fiery crackle, pointed it at whoever this was, and demanded, "Alright, what's the big idea here?!"

"Put that away!" the colossal dragon, its face covered with scars and toughened white scales, roared at her.

"Get out of my head!" Tikva yelled and then shot the monster in the eyes with three bullets made of pure Light.

"You'll pay for this!" the dragon yowled in pain before

"Get out of here! It's-" Tikva cried. Then the ramshackle building exploded around her as rusted chains fell out of the sky.

"Oh dear. Master Tenri will not be pleased with this at all," the Frame said just before it was picked up with

"Hear me now, trespassers upon our domain!" the blinded Ahamkara shouted while circling in midair. "You thought my kind was destroyed in your Great Hunt, but we will hide in the shadows no longer. You thought you could seek your vengeance upon us, but I will show you REVEEEENGE!"

"GAAAAHHHH!" Ayiana yelped as her gaze was drawn irrevocably into its golden eyes, her own turning into purple flame and her hands doing the same thing before, without any warning, a Nova Bomb was flung by her into several parked cars nearby as she fell over, causing civilians nearby to run in terror from the Guardian.

The rest of the Guardians and the City Police opened fire on the dragon, but their gunfire merely bounced off its shell. A glowing ball of fire from within its belly portended a horrifying counterattack, but when some Guardian ships blasted it, it beat a hasty retreat and dissolved into blue light within seconds.

"It's okay, sweetheart," Tikva cooed as she sat next to Ayiana. "You'll be alright. I'm gonna get you out of here, and we're going to get you some help." In truth, though, she was just as terrified as the hyperventilating Awoken woman she called her closest friend was.

"You're all under arrest for disturbing the peace!" was the last thing that the Guardians heard before they were tasered and knocked out by batons, then dragged away.

* * *

Come in, oh reader mine, and give to me your most buried reviews. I will help you fill the world with chapters.

Hey guys! Sorry about the two week delay between chapters. I had a family event and some friends to see, the train to and from work has become congested lately, and what little free time I had got sucked up by playing Destiny with my friends (got to level 34 yesterday- man, the level 34 arena is so annoying!) All that combined to create some serious writer's block.

I soon found some inspiration from the ridiculous way Bungie has handled The Taken King's pricing (as you can clearly tell- not sure how I could have been any more subtle :P) and plan to have another, more plot related chapter up just before July 4th weekend. Happy holidays, Guardians! :)

Also, look up the Ahamkara and the Great Hunt. Yes, there are dragons hidden in Destiny's lore. I found a couple Grimoire cards that I can't remember off the top of my head. Then I looked up the rest on the wiki... ;)


	7. Chapter 7: Proving Grounds

**Chapter 7: Proving Grounds**

Author's Note: First of all, thank you all so much for all your reviews, patience, and other support!

Sorry that this chapter has had so many delays, but I don't get much time to write any more what with work, friends, and Xbox (I've become addicted to Batman Arkham Knight, So Many Me, Titanfall, and Terraria- all must have Xbox One games- and so I'm waiting on The Taken King to get back into Destiny again, but I promise I won't give up writing about it!)

I think the next few chapters will be shorter and more about character than plot, so they will be out at a much quicker pace than two weeks or so.

Also, I am aware that I only have a few line breaks. I tried to add more, but the Doc Manager screwed up their placement, so for the time being I've added a line break with the phrase "VVVVVV" while I try to figure out how to fix this.

* * *

Kolee sighed, the young Fallen Dreg's arms limp at his sides as he shifted nervously on the lunar regolith. He'd tried to convince his insane friend Variks that joining up with Archon Vokuna, the very individual who had hunted him across the Moon after he freed the Guardian from being executed, was insanity.

"You found out he is having a meeting, and we need to know what he is planning, yes?"

Kolee had nodded timidly.

"Then go. All Dregs look alike, yes? You will blend in."

Most Fallen knew they were going to die. They never knew the precise day or hour, and it could come at any moment while valiantly fighting a Guardian, or simply because a piece of a ship accidentally squished them. Kolee, however, never thought he was going to die because he didn't stand up to this idiotic Captain and say that no, in fact, not all Dregs looked the same. Scars, tattoos, piercings, and even boot size could be used to track down missing Dregs. And now he would be recognized and flayed alive on the spot.

In fact, he'd spotted wanted posters with his exact face on it, and so came to the meeting with a dull grey cloak he'd found on a dead Dreg, pulled it up over his head, and made himself as small as possible.

The entire floor shook along with the slender Dreg as the priest, in his heavy robes and armor, stomped onto the stage.

"People of the New Empire!"

Oh, so that's what they were calling their idea of going out in a blaze of glory. The "New Empire." Kolee crossed his arms tightly in place of his usual habit of rolling his eyes.

"We bring great and portentous news from the Darkness itself!"

As the others applauded and cheered and jumped up and down, Kolee was barely able to avoid getting swept up in their tidal wave of collective delusion himself

"I have found a new ally in our struggle to find the Causeway, destroy the Traveler, and bring about the Last Age!" More rabid, patriotic cries. "The Cabal have decided to aid us in the search for our sacred passage. In return, they ask for us to carry out...a favor."

This confused Kolee. He had heard that the Cabal was to be crushed by the Archon Order. Why this temporary alliance then? And this Last Age stuff was news to him as well. It amazed him how they managed, in such a short span, to make people forget that Skolas and the Kell of Kells prophecy had ever even existed, and that the Cabal were everyone's buddies now.

As he craned his ears to hear more about what Vokuna was cooking up in his mad brain, guards herded all of them into a single file line. That was being moved towards a ship. Which was probably about to go to battle. Probably with the Guardians.

Scratch that, Kolee thought. THIS was how he was going to die.

If he'd eaten anything that day, he would have thrown it up.

* * *

Six little Guardians going on a Raid

One went off and got shot in the head

The Ghost called the doctor and the doctor said

No more Guardians going on a Raid

Five little Guardians going on a Raid

One went off and turned into an Oracle's snack

The Ghost called the doctor and the doctor said

No more Guardians going on a Raid

Four little Guardians going on a Raid

One went off and jumped a little too late

The Ghost called the doctor and the doctor said

No more Guardians going on a Raid

Three little Guardians going on a Raid

One went off and got by a Minotaur REKT

The Ghost called the doctor and the doctor said

No more Guardians going on a Raid

Two little Guardians going on a Raid

One ran off and saw his friend get stomped

The Ghost called the doctor and the doctor said

No more Guardians going on a Raid

One little Guardian running from a Raid

He went off and stared into the Void

The Ghost called the Epic Waffle and THE EPIC WAFFLE SAID

You've been a very naughty boy running from a Raid NAUGHTYNAUGHTYNAUGHTYNAUGHTY...

* * *

"He must be talking about how he trapped in there, the poor guy," Ayiana said as Epic Waffle guy stared at a corner wall and shouted "NAUGHTY" to himself over and over again.

She was kicking a soccer ball between her and Tikva as they were kept in a waiting room until they would meet their fate.

"At least he's changing up his vocabulary," Tikva squeaked with a shrug of her shoulders. This was the first time anyone had ever heard him speak full sentences in months.

"He really shouldn't be joining us."

"I agree, but we needed a full six person party to face off against the other six Guardians, and they said they couldn't make any changes at the last minute."

"Lord Shaxx knows what this guy is like. Why he continues to put that poor man through the Crucible, I'll never understand. You could've been substituted as well. I know how much the Crucible hurt you in the past, and if anybody shouldn't have to go in again, it should be you," the Awoken woman smiled at her human Fireteam companion and rubbed her shoulder.

Tikva tried not to keep her knees from knocking as she thought of experiencing hell afresh.

"With Calore suspended and everything, I just wanted to make sure you weren't alone out there."

"Thanks for volunteering, but I'll have Dakar protecting me," Ayiana said, slightly confused while her toes tapped the stationary ball.

"Yeah, but- but, I, I think he'll be busy working with his new squadmates," Tikva stammered. "I think their names are Sarti and Misraj, right?"

"That makes sense," Ayiana said.

* * *

"So good to finally meet you, Dakar!" a big bulky blue Awoken covered in Titan armor and sporting puffy orange hair and orange face tattoos cried as he gave the fellow Awoken man a bear hug.

"Good to meet- cough- you too," Dakar choked out, his arms and lungs struggling to get free.

"Oh, sorry about that."

"The big galoof is Sarti," said a human Warlock woman with midnight hair and raven warpaint across her eyes. "And I'm Misraj, your new Fireteam leader."

"Good to-" Dakar started to say, extending his hand.

"Cut the chatter. I don't care how much of a hot shot you were on your previous Fireteam. If you want to get out of the Crucible alive, you will do exactly as I say."

Then the doors opened and the shield whirred to life and enveloped the training area on Mercury, protecting it from the horde of Vex that had turned the entire planet into a machine.

"The enemy is everywhere," Lord Shaxx snarled over the mic as he announced a free for all match without any warning.

"You can start by dying," a surprised Misraj said, then instinctively shot both of her Fireteam members in the head and disappeared.

* * *

"The enemy is everywhere."

"What in the world does he mean by that?!" Tikva cried as she and Ayiana hid in one of the stairwells by the broken bridge at the center of the arena.

"I think he wants everybody to fight everybody else," Ayiana replied over the incessant grinding of the huge partial stone wheel that circled a beam of light. "But maybe he could have told us that BEFORE we thought we were going to have teams?"

"I don't want to fight you, do you?"

"Nope. You?"

"No ma'am."

"So it's just us against the world, huh Ayiana?" Tikva wondered. She slouched against the stairs, shoulder to shoulder with her friend

"I suppose so."

"We're probably going to die, aren't we?"

"A lot."

"I thought as much."

* * *

"I've never understood why we have this training mode in the Crucible," Cayde-6 puffed back on the Tower as he watched the match unfold. "Why have everyone work in teams in other modes and in missions, only to turn on each other here?"

"It's because of something that you can see Misraj has understood, and that I hope she can teach Tikva, Calore-14, and all of the others who constantly break protocol and cause havoc and unnecessary headaches for the Speaker and for everyone," Lord Shaxx growled. "Friendship, camaraderie, even loyalty between team members is important, but only to a point."

"And why do you think so? So they make a few mistakes. We make sure to punish them. They've never done any real harm, though."

"Two things," Lord Shaxx said, the muscular man easily looming head and shoulders over his Exo counterpart. "One, if they so much as give an inch, the Guardians could have information on the Causeway ripped from their very minds."

"What's so important about this Causeway that it's got the Fallen in such a tizzy?"

"I don't know. I have faith that the Speaker will find out about this, and about what Archon Vokuna is using to enslave so many of the Hive. Let's hope he does before your misfit Tikva gets herself captured or consumed by the Darkness and the City rips itself apart."

"I don't know about you, but I was a misfit once, if you remember, and I turned out pretty alright myself, I reckon," Cayde grinned.

Lord Shaxx grumbled as he remembered how easily Cayde had gotten through the Crucible with barely any training, grinning like an idiot the whole time, treating his carefully constructed proving grounds as just another game.

Still, what his old mentor said gave Cayde pause. Perhaps that was the reason why, after Petra Venj had left the City yesterday, the Speaker had pretty much secluded himself in the Library and seemed so sullen lately.

"And two, we still have to consider the return of Oryx as an imminent threat, and any weakness in our ranks must be corrected for. If Guardians grow too dependent on each other, then they'll hesitate to kill any of their number if he corrupts them, as we know he is capable of doing. In both cases, Guardians need to be able to operate on their own more efficiently."

"Have you been listening to Eris again? By the Traveler, that woman needs to lighten up sometime. Besides, Oryx's return is a myth told to scare newborns."

"We cannot take the possibility lightly, especially since I don't know if you remember, but the Guardians murdered Crota, who kind of happens to be his son!"

"Well, what's your proof? Your girlfriend's gut feeling?"

"She is not my...you...you...argh. There is no getting through to you, is there?"

"Nope," Cayde-6 chuckled.

* * *

"Well, it's been five minutes and nobody's killed you yet," Tikva's Ghost chirped at her. "I'd consider this to be the best outcome if I were you."

"Shut up," Tikva snapped as she raised her rifle, her back pressed against Ayiana's as they covered both entrances.

"Shutting up," the Ghost whirred before disappearing into her armor.

"It's probably just because the other Guardians are completely ignoring us, but I have to agree," Ayiana sighed.

"Yeah, me too." Tikva didn't want to admit it yet, but something worrying in Ayiana's gaze forced the truth out of her. Like her friend, she hoped that they wouldn't be dying repeatedly, that maybe they could even win and then never have to

"HELLO THERE!" a male Hunter cried as he hung from the ceiling in front of Ayiana. Ayiana used her super, but he dodged out of the way and said, "I'm Zixxster!"

Other voices that sounded identical from five other identical looking Guardians yelled at the same time:

"I'm Clixxster!"

"I'm Flixxster!"

"I'm Pixxster!"

"I'm Kixxster!"

"And I...ammm...Looord...Kick Sombutt! TA DA!"

Ayiana and Tikva were frozen by fear as they watched these six enemy Guardians surround them, Thorns pointed right between their eyes.

"Oh come on. That is NOT your codename!" Zixxster grumbled. "We agreed when we were all resurrected at the same time that we'd have similar sounding code names. And now that XXtreme has won the Trials of Osiris, raided the Vault of Glass, and become THE best Guardian group ever, you want to break that team spirit? We decided on this by a majority vote."

Of people with no taste, Tikva thought with a grin.

"You don't get to do that to me, to us!"

"But, but my name is better than...than Sixxster. That makes me sound like I'm sick all the time."

"His new name is definitely clever," Tikva pretended to laugh to herself as she backed away slowly from these clearly very mentally deranged people.

"And funny, without a doubt," Ayiana nodded while doing the same thing.

"Finally! Somebody who understands where I'm coming from," Lord Sombutt replied.

"Sixxster..." Zixxster sighed.

"That is not my name!"

"Now look what you've made me do, Brian," Zixxster replied to his friend as he killed Brian instantly with a single shot to the head with his concealed Thorn pistol, then did the same to Ayiana and Tikva. "And I didn't even get to say, 'And we're THE XXTREMES!' like we've been practicing for months. Idiot."

* * *

Once they respawned, both the Human Hunter and the Awoken Warlock sat in a dark and dank crevice of the stone structure, pressed up against each other while gunfire echoed everywhere, the both of them scanning the ceilings, floors, walls, and even small vines that protruded from all of those surfaces for any of the Xxtremes.

"Well, that could have gone...worse I guess," Ayiana smirked.

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"Thorns are incredibly cheap, though."

"Yeeep. So. What's the plan?" Tikva wondered after a few minutes of awkward silence.

"Hmmmm..."

VVVVVV

"Dammit, I'm out of ammo!" Misraj snarled as she tossed her rifle past the when one of those moronic Hunters with two xx's in their names for no apparent reason dodged her shot.

"THE EPIC WAFF-" Epic Waffle Guy shouted as he charged on ahead of them.

"Looks like we're pinned down by enemy fire," she said.

"Maybe we wouldn't be in this predicament IF, and I'm just putting this out there, you hadn't shot at us!" Sarti shouted, his voice barely registering over the hail of bullets and rockets that was headed their way.

"This is meant to be a way for the City to find out which of us has what it takes to face down the Darkness itself without any flinching. I love you like a brother, Sarti, and I'd die for you on any mission, but this is a free for all, so I followed the rules of engagement. If you want to run away to the Tower and cry because you're losing, then you can. I, however, want to actually WIN."

"Against the winners of the Trials of Osiris? Are you insane?" Dakar snapped, like Sarti still a little sore that he had been turned on by his own Fireteam leader.

VVVVVV

"Hmmmm..."

"You've been hm'ing for the past five minutes. Do you have a plan or not?!" Tikva demanded, shaking in the claustrophobic and freezing environment they had been subjected to.

"Well, a.) getting out of here alive when ten people want to kill you isn't as easy as it looks, and b.) if it was so easy, then YOU come up with a plan!"

"I have, for your information!"

"Oh yeah! Tell me what it is then."

"It involves not dying."

"Yes- I take it any successful plan would involve us getting out of this hole alive, Tickie. What's next?"

"Um..." Tikva stuttered when Ayiana gave her the odd but interesting nickname. "We break for the heavy ammo box and mow them all down with machine guns.

"But," Ayiana replied and peeked her head around the corner, "they each have a rocket launcher and are camping the boxes."

"Oh. Well, they weren't a minute ago. Now I've got nothing else."

"You know what? You're not being very helpful at all!"

"Then maybe I shouldn't have volunteered to help you if I'm, you know, holding you back, oh great and mighty one!"

"Maybe you shouldn't have!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

The two of them sat down, backs to each other, both more furious at each other than anything or anyone they'd ever been angry at, but neither of them really knew the reason why.

VVVVVV

"Is anybody else excited that we just arrived in Mercury?" a Dreg sitting next to Kolee in one of the Fallen pirate skiffs wondered as he raised his hand. "No? Just me?" He then pulled his hand back down.

An exasperated female Dreg cried out, "Are they ever going to explain why we're so far out from Fallen territory?"

"A Guardian base," another male replied. "At least that's what I heard. Look, there, in the distance. That stone structure."

"You're right- that is very peculiar looking to say the least. It could be a Guardian base," she shrugged. "But why do we need to have an entire fleet attack this place?"

"Trust me, you do NOT want to underestimate the Guardians! I once was part of a thousand man ambush against three Guardians and only a few of us got out alive- barely. We're going to need all the help we can get."

Kolee gulped, wishing more than anything for his old set of drawing tools to help steady his fidgeting hands that almost juggled his shock rifle from midair to his lap and back again.

"The blue shimmer there," the Dreg woman said. "Is it protected by some sort of force field?"

"That would make sense. This entire planet is crawling with Vex, so if the Guardians have a foothold on this planet, they have to make sure it's a strong one."

"Ugh. I forgot about the Vex. Those things are...unsettling. They never blink or anything," Kolee shivered. He'd only

"The new meat speaks!"

Kolee chuckled and pretended to take a bow. "Anyway," he wondered, "how are we going to break this force field AND escape all the Vex?"

"Here's the thing, actually. I've heard that we're not going to escape the Vex."

"What? We're all going to die?!

"No, we're going to wipe out their entire force on Mercury- or at least a large portion of it."

"But how?" The planet was crawling with Vex, and had been impenetrable for centuries.

"The Cabal seem to be helping out on that front."

"So THAT'S what the Cabal wanted our- I mean, their help with," thought Kolee. He had to keep reminding himself that he was not one of them.

It was obvious what the Cabal wanted out of this arrangement- the Vex were their sworn enemies, and if a major blow, the Vex would be forced to pull out of Mars and the Cabal could have the entirety planet themselves, aside from the Crucible training camps the Guardians held.

"Was that?" Kolee briefly wondered.

What the Cabal was willing to provide was clear as well- the location of this Causeway that Vokuna was rambling on about. What wasn't clear was how the Cabal planned to help the "New Empire" of the Fallen defeat a largest and nearly unstoppable time traveling killer hive mind made up of ruthless organic machines, and find the Causeway.

And more importantly, how in the Solar System Kolee was supposed to stop any of it.

VVVVVV

"Listen, Ay," Tikva said softly as her friend sighed and leaned her exhausted back against the Hunter's shoulders. "I'm sorry. What I said earlier, that was- AH!"

Ayiana was about to respond, but gasped when Tikva seemed to disappear and she fell down on the dirt. Someone was holding Tikva in midair by the leg and used another beefy blue hand to reach into the hole after her but Ayiana scampered away.

"Don't you DARE hurt her!" Ayiana yelled and then charged out towards whoever held her friend, only for the brute to sidestep the Warlock and slam her helmet into a wall, the entire world spinning around her prone form.

"Wait, guys!" Dakar cried out. "These are my former Fireteam mates. And my friends! Please don't kill them!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we give," Tikva squeaked as the blood rushed to her head.

"Fine- for now. Who are you?" Misraj demanded.

Once everybody had introduced themselves, Misraj nodded and then said, "You may be with Dakar, but you try anything funny and I'll make sure you regret it. The other reason that we haven't put bullets between your eyes is that we all have to fight the crazed circus troupe and that rambling madman. Check your corners, stick together, and maybe we'll get out of here without having to drag our tails between our legs on the way back to the Tower."

Ayiana pursed her lips, thinking that Misraj was taking the Crucible way too seriously when she stormed off to try and clear the path ahead.

Sarti patted her and Tikva on the back, trying to ease both of their nerves. "She really can be friendly, once you get to know her," he added, forcing a smile.

"I'd rather be friends with a rabid Thrall than her," Ayiana snorted.

As Misraj snapped, "I heard that!", Tikva said, "Well, we'll need her help to not die horribly. After that, we never have to see her again."

"But what about..."

"Dakar?" Tikva asked back, as if she'd read her friend's mind. "He's his own person. We can all see him sometime."

"Yeah, I guess."

And so they trudged in single file through the vine and moss covered stones of the machine, nearly shoulder to shoulder and back to back, guns bobbing and weaving wildly through the air as they searched for Epic Waffle Guy and the Xxtremes.

They soon had more to worry about, however, as something exploded behind them and a stern robotic voice grimly said, "Shield has been breached by enemy forces. The Burning Shrine Crucible training facility must be evacuated now."

VVVVVV

"See, this is what happens when you build one of your little arenas so far from the City's influence! But did you listen to me? Ohhhh noooo."

"Would you shut up for once in your life?" Lord Shaxx demanded and slammed his fist on the table. "Fine, you're right, okay? I made a mistake by not having more security around the Burning Shrine, which is now putting the Lighthouse at risk as well. Are you happy that you're right yet again?!"

Arcite 99-40, the Crucible Quartermaster, walked over to his master, "Sir, remember what the doctor said about your blood pressure."

Lord Shaxx ignored him and demanded, "Do you seriously think that I don't care about the lives of these Guardians? We had to have a foothold on this planet. But I knew full well that any Guardians sent there would at risk when we built this place, so I spared no expense in protecting them. If a single one of them dies, it's on me. ALL on me. That's what you don't realize when you prance around and complain about..."

"Shut up," Cayde-6 said firmly. "This isn't how the man who found me and saved my scrawny idiot self from so many scrapes talked. I know you're worried. I am too. I'm responsible for every Hunter in the entire Solar System. Every time one of them dies, I- I remember their face. Their smile, their laughter, their sorrow, their...everything. It's like losing a brother or sister. So don't think it isn't on me too."

"The Vanguard has been convened," the Speaker growled, his hands shaking. His helmet and robes seemed disheveled as he entered the Vanguard's briefing room with the bulky Commander Zavala, the Titan Vanguard, and the slender Ikora Rey, the Warlock Vanguard. "What is the present situation?" he asked as he leaned over the table.

"Sir," Commander Zavala barked, "we've lost all communications with our forces on Mercury. Surveillance footage from scout satellites"- he then turned to a holographic presentation of a recording of the situation- "shows that a large EMP was detonated just above Mercury's surface by ships led by Archon Vokuna and his forces. This resulted in knocking out the shields surrounding the Burning Shrine and the power to the Lighthouse, as well as taking out any Guardian ships in the area and a significant number of Vex patrols, possibly even a Gate Lord."

"How is that possible? We've done everything we could to shield against every type of EMP that the armies of the Darkness could throw at us. It's why they gave up trying to use them against the Traveler centuries ago."

"This is a new type of EMP," Ikora said as she zoomed in on a brief, frozen frame depicting the bomb itself. "Possibly of Cabal origin based on known Cabal design attributes."

"Perhaps this temporary alliance of the Cabal and the Archons is related to this Causeway business," the Speaker said solemnly. He was so, so close. "Never mind. Just a thought. Anyway, what are our options?"

"It would appear so," Commander Zavala said. "And, it would also appear that, that..."

"That what?"

"That in excess of a million Vex units are rising up from the metallic honeycomb beneath the planet, commanded by several minds. The Fallen stirred up the hornet's nest, in other words. And a dozen Guardians in the Burning Shrine and a few hundred in the Lighthouse are now caught in the middle."

The Speaker froze, any words dying behind his sterile helmet.

"Any ships that we send to rescue them would have to go through an entire fleet of Fallen completely undetected," Cayde sighed.

"And, like we said before, we can't reach the Guardians in the Lighthouse. They'll have to hold out on their own," Lord Shaxx replied.

"They could. Perhaps we will come back for them. As for the Burning Shrine?"

"Without their ships, they're sitting ducks," Ikora said. "And who knows how long they can hold out for? Even our best Guardians have trouble with a few hundred Vex in the Vault of Glass. Sir, we may have to abandon Mercury entirely."

"No! I refuse to accept this," the Speaker snarled. Everybody stood there, taken aback. He was certainly much more emotional than usual. But why?

"Speaker, their sacrifice would be worthy of legend," Commander Zavala tried to soothe him.

"It's not like we have any assets on the ground that could extract them," Lord Shaxx said.

"Wait a minute. Assets. That's it!" the Speaker yelled, then went off to one side. When he came back, he muttered, "I've...called in a few favors."

"What do you mean?" Cayde wondered.

"Well, depending on what happens next, the card I've played might be a foolish gamble or be the decisive factor in the strangest victory we've ever managed to eke out."

VVVVVV

"Emperor Vokuna- may I call you that?" Captain Batacul said to Vokuna deferentially.

"You may. The universe will soon enough," Vokuna grinned. Once he'd murdered- excuse him, "martyred"- the rest of the pathetic Archon Brotherhood and crowned himself as ruler of the New Empire.

He could barely contain his mirth. His brother Skolas had made great headway against all of the enemies of the Fallen but ended up dying in chains in the Queen's little makeshift zoo (oddly named the "Prison of Elders"). Now he'd stew in the afterlife, jealously looking upon his brother as his armies crushed the Traveler itself. That's what Skolas got for pushing him around all those years.

"I'm not so little any more," he growled to himself. Then he turned to Captain Batacul. "So, it would appear that things are going well."

"Drop our units in. Send the Hive to chew through the Vex and converge on any Guardians you can find. Bring them back alive if possible- we need them to tell us where the Causeway is."

"But we haven't been able to successfully interrogate them as to its whereabouts thus far. How will you succeed this time? N-Not that I'm questioning your brilliant gift for strategy and tactics, my master. I simply require enlightenment as to the cunning methods by which you hope to achieve victory for the Empire."

"Do not worry, Batacul. We have been friends for a long time. You can ask me anything. And when I make you Grand Vizier, you will be able to speak freely to me. In due time, I will reveal the next phase of our plans."

VVVVVV

Kolee started panicking as he saw dozens of Fallen, along with he could have sworn was a waterfall made of thousands upon thousands of shrieking Hive AND, what's more, hundreds of heavily armored Cabal soldiers jumping from the top of the atmosphere all the way to the surface of the Guardians' base.

"Looks like we're about to die," the female Dreg shrugged nonchalantly.

Suddenly, chunks of the planet that dwarfed an entire Fallen Moon fortress started rising away from the rest of the aging machinery below.

"Is that...are those..." one of the male Dregs replied. "Vex ships! I thought they only used their time travel thingies to get across space. Maybe they're turrets?"

"Does it matter? They're huge, and they're firing on us. Now we're really going to die!" said another in despair as one ship was torn in half by a single blast and then crashed into another, causing both to explode.

"But at least we're doing it for the Empire!" Kolee cried, a twinge of a foreign tone, what the humans called "sur chasm" underlining his words as another blast whizzed just over the ship.

VVVVVV

"It would appear that there are a hundred Fallen ships appearing in Mercury's orbit, and commencing an invasion that hasn't been seen since the Fall of Earth," Tikva's Ghost echoed in her mind. "What do you suggest that we do?"

"Can we get to the ships and get out of here?" Tikva yelled out loud as blue plumes of electronic smoke dropped all over an angry horde of Vex that for now, thankfully, were focused on counterattacking the invading force rather than the Guardians.

"No. Their systems were shut down by the Fallen EMP blast."

"Then how are we supposed to get out of here alive?"

"I'm...not sure." The little light usually was sure of everything, and didn't know how else to say this in any way that wouldn't terrify her Guardian.

"So, that's just it then? We're dead? I hated the Crucible before now, but this..." Sarti sighed.

"C'mon, you big baby. I haven't let you die before now, and I don't intend to start now," Misraj replied with a stern wave of her hand.

"So, what's your plan?" Ayiana wondered.

"We get on our Sparrows, get as far away from here as possible, and shoot anything that stands in our way," Misraj said.

"See that? Now THAT is someone who knows how to come up with a plan quickly and execute it just as decisively," Tikva said, putting on a fake grin as she tried to get past all of the fear in her heart to put a positive spin on this.

"Shush you," Ayiana said and rolled her eyes.

The entire area surrounding the Burning Shrine was packed full of Fallen, Hive, Vex, all while a veritable cornucopia of blasts emanated from dozens of exploding ships, stabbing the ground with craters.

"OK, Plan B...Plan B...what's Plan B?" Misraj wondered. No, no, this could not be happening for her! She was Misraj, a strong and powerful Warlock who had led her Fireteam to victory through all sorts of perilous and impossible circumstances. Why was her brilliant brain refusing to provide her with a way out of this? She could NOT be losing control right now!

"Plan B is we hold the Burning Shrine," Dakar said.

"Against a million enemies? Are you insane?" Misraj screeched. "MAYBE we might have a chance of that if we had help from that Waffle House guy or whatever and the Xxtremes! But they appear to have turned tail."

"They fled for the Lighthouse," said a new voice. "How typical of them! I thought that they were my friends."

"Who are you?"

"I am Lord Kick Sombutt!" When that proclamation was mostly met with confusion, he stated instead, "Just call me Brian."

"Welcome, Brian," Ayiana said. She added, desperate NOT to have to go through with her brother's insane plan, "Do you know if there's still a way we can get to the Lighthouse?"

"Its entrance is sealed to anyone who hasn't won nine matches of Trials of Osiris, so even if I did know, only I would be able to get in," Brian explained.

"Well, then holding-" Dakar started to say.

"I AM THE EPIC WAFFLE!"

"So you are," Dakar said as the deranged Hunter joined their motley crew. "Let's count our assets. We have me, Misraj, Sarti, Ayiana, Tikva, Brian, and the Epic Waffle. That's a total of seven Guardians. There's going to be quite an unfair fight."

"I'll say," Misraj muttered.

"FOR THEM!" Dakar yelled. "You want to know why?"

Silence, even from Misraj.

"Here's why," he started to elucidate. "I've fought beside each and every one of you and I know that all of our qualities can give every single one of these aliens a good drubbing.

"What we'll do is camp out in the hallway by the heavy ammo crate. Misraj, you'll be in charge of planning and coordinating the overall defense, since you're very practical and level headed. Sarti, you'll be in charge of cutting off the left entrance since one of your arms could probably block it. Epic Waffle, you'll be in that corner with Sarti since you're...frightening."

"WHERE?!"

Misraj and Sarti both chuckled at that.

"Ayiana, you and I will be able to cut off the right entrance without even saying a word. And, last but certainly not least, Brian and Tikva. You both have been sorely underestimated in the past, I feel. Brian, I saw the way you fought with the Xxtremes- you know all their tactics. They may not care about you, but they certainly wouldn't have won Trials of Osiris without your help! And Tikva, you are brave, loyal, and can think outside the box. I can say truly that I could never have found a better person to take my place on my sister's Fireteam, or be her friend. You and Brian will call out when the heavy ammo box is available and will be the last line of defense."

"I see what you're getting at here," Misraj mumbled. "The narrow entrances will force any Vex or Fallen into nearly single file formations, and they'll be easier to deal with. If we're careful, we could hold out for hours like this."

"Well, luckily it seems that the Fallen and Vex are keeping each other busy for the moment, but yeah, that's what I was thinking," Dakar replied. "And even if we do die, Misraj, we'll go down in history for laying waste to the Vex and standing up to the Darkness with every last ounce of our strength, fortitude, and team spirit!"

"Sounds like...a plan," Misraj admitted with a small smile. "Although, you need to work on your rhetorical skills. 'Team spirit,' really?"

Dakar shook his head. "Anyway, we should probably start to get ready."

"Agreed," Misraj nodded.

"Hey, Tickie, I have to say something," Ayiana cleared her throat as the others prepared to take their places.

"What is it, Ay?" Tikva wondered.

"I didn't mean any of what I said. You confronted your worst fear to be there for me and I was ungrateful. I was just...worried about you and I didn't exactly say that in the nicest way. If today does end up being our last day, then I'm glad you're here with me."

"Well, Calore would find a way to kick my ass in the afterlife if I let anything happen to you," Tikva said. When Ayiana laughed in that way that soft and dulcet way that massaged away her fear, even for just a moment, Tikva continued as she clasped her friend's hands, "You've been the friend and Fireteam mate that I needed when I thought I'd always be alone- kind, patient, and braver than I'll ever be. I promise that I'll do everything that I can, for as long as I'm still breathing, to make sure that you're safe."

Then the Awoken woman closed her eyes, scooped her smaller Hunter friend up into her arms, and squeezed her into a hug, her hands on Tikva's back while Tikva's rested on her shoulders. For a few moments, all the gunfire, yelling, and explosions faded away into a dull and indistinct background thrum, and all that remained was the sight of each other as their helmets touched and the feeling of warmth that coursed between them both.

"Hey, you know what? If we make it out of here, how about I take you on a second trip to the Moon? Maybe we'll have a picnic lunch under Archer's Line, once we clear out the enemies nearby," Ayiana suggested.

"Sounds like fun!" Tikva smiled up at her friend.

"Here they come!" Dakar yelled.

"Be sure to conserve your ammo and make the most of your grenades, throwing knives, supers, and whatever else can recharge!" Misraj cried, and soon Ayiana and Tikva reluctantly separated and went to their assigned positions.

VVVVVV

"Yes, Your Majesty. I'll be sure to give the Speaker my regards," somebody familiar sounding muttered behind Kolee. As he pricked his ears up to hear more, Kolee really got an earful from the mysterious stranger when he added, "It looks like we are taking a detour, yes?"

Kolee recognized Variks just in time to hang on to something, knowing his driving skills.

"Who are you to- AHHHH!" one of the male Dregs yelled along with most of the others as they were dumped.

Even though they were the enemy, Kolee couldn't help but feel sorry for them as they tumbled through the air choked with ships and blasts and other troops. Even if they managed to thread that needle, as the humans would say, they still had to somehow survive. He'd been like them once, and so he hoped that they would turn up OK even though his rational brain had consigned them to the Darkness.

"What you're doing here better be worth it," Kolee snarled. "What I'M doing here better be worth it too." The phrase, "Worth all the lives of my brothers and sisters" didn't cross his lips.

"This is Grand Vizier Batacul. Get back in formation or you will be destroyed!" a gravelly voice proclaimed over the intercom.

Variks shot the console with a snort as he still processed the idea that Kolee had snapped at him, then said, "Hang back on to your seat, Captain Kolee of House Judgment," as he opened fire on some nearby ships, causing them to careen into the metallic planet and set off colossal explosions. "We're going on a rescue mission. To save the Guardians from being captured by Vokuna and foil his designs on the Causeway, yes? The most worthwhile thing of all."

CAPTAIN Kolee (the word felt odd but fitting somehow) didn't have a retort for him, even smiled underneath his helmet as they began diving towards their destination.

VVVVVV

Tikva's lucky streak was continuing, it seemed. She hadn't had to fire a single bullet. Even after her friends slaughtered thousands of Fallen and Vex, they still had more than enough ammo. Part of that was due to the fact that Tikva and Brian tossed out heavy ammo packages to anyone who needed it.

It was also due to Epic Waffle guy strangling five hundred Vex with his bare hands. She hadn't even known that Vex COULD be strangled, since they were mostly mechanical (as far as everybody knew to breathe).

Then he'd murdered three Minotaurs at once before running off cackling, "RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN gently down the stream merrily merrily merrily THE MULTIVERSE IS BUT A DREAM!"

This unfortunately had left Sarti to defend the entire left entrance by himself. Thankfully for everybody else, he'd done an excellent job of that until he'd cleared enough of a path for Misraj to take Epic Waffle guy's place.

But in any event, her and Brian had managed to stay safe, and during a calm period, he said, "You must be glad to have...actual friends."

"You mean to say that you don't feel you do?" Tikva wondered. This was about as delicate a statement as she could make in her adrenaline infused state at the moment.

"Well, I didn't before today. I thought the Xxtremes were my friends, but I realize now that they just wanted me to talk and act exactly like they did."

"That doesn't seem like a very friendly thing to have done," Tikva said, and rubbed his shoulder reassuringly through his cloak and armor.

"You're right," Brian smiled up at her.

Then a shock rifle blasted her directly in the chest and she slumped over and spasmed repeatedly.

"Tikva, stay with me!" her Ghost cried out. "Your chest has been fibrillated. Just, just don't take any damage and you'll heal soon."

"Tikva, NO!" Ayiana yelled. Then she went on her knees too and held her head in her hands.

"Ayiana, what's going on? You're gonna need to get up. I know she's hurt, but I can't hold them all off for much longer! If you get up she'll be fine, I promise!" Dakar yelled as he got hit by a few Fallen bullets and

Ayiana couldn't hear him through Tikva's deafening cries of pain. Meanwhile, visions of every single possible future, millions of them involving Tikva and everybody else dying in horrible agony, flashed in her mind. And shadowy tendrils crowded out her thoughts until suddenly a single, pointed, acidic phrase erupted from her throat

"GET AWAY FROM MY FRIENDS!" Ayiana roared, her body engulfed in purple Light for a moment before a sudden Void shockwave erupted from her eyes and then emanated all around her, obliterating the entire Burning Shrine and thousands of enemies nearby while leaving her friends untouched.

However, this destroyed the rotten walls as well, leaving the entire group exposed as a tsunami of Vex Goblins, Hobgoblins, Minotaurs, Praetorians, Harpies, and many many more charged them, swallowing up the Fallen in their way

Within seconds, warmth and strength flooded over Tikva's body again and she stood as if the lightning had not affected her in the slightest. But her bones broke and then reformed, her guts ached to contain the power moving within her, and then, suddenly, she glowed light blue, her eyes beacons of turquoise as well while she smiled crookedly.

"I WONDER WHAT YOUR SOULS WILL TASTE LIKE WHEN I SAUTEE THEM!" Tikva laughed maniacally before activating Arc Blade, an ability she hadn't even touched before, and then dancing gracefully through a wave of Vex, mowing them down with the slightest of ease.

Everybody else's super abilities were augmented as well, enabling the group of Guardians to cut a swath of destruction with ease.

"Great, now look what you've done," Misraj grumbled as everybody backed into a small corner, down to their last bullets while thousands of Vex kept coming. "We have no walls to protect us and now we're completely outflanked and outgunned."

"Now's not the time for naysaying," Dakar replied, even though in his heart he knew that she was right, as usual. "It's been an honor fighting alongside you all."

Everybody nodded slowly, without the slightest trace of optimism on their faces.

Without warning, an EMP blast knocked out their heads up displays, silenced their Ghosts, and froze the Vex directly in front of them, slowing the enemy advance as they pushed aside a forest of their dead fellow machines.

When Ayiana and Tikva both ran out of bullets, Tikva waited for her abilities to slowly while she hugged Ayiana with all her might, both to comfort her shaking friend and to do the same for herself.

Then she said, fighting back tears, "Ayiana, I, I'm sorry. I tried to save you, but I failed. I should have done more. I should have-"

"Don't be sorry. I'm here. And, and..."

"Yes?"

"I always will be. Even in the Darkness, I'll be next to you. I promise."

"I promise too."

VVVVVV

"We've got to hurry, Variks! The Guardians probably don't have much time!" Kolee yelled as they narrowly avoided being caught in the explosion that destroyed the

"Do you think I am stalling, yes?" Variks cried as six other Fallen ships pursued him and he tried to shake them.

"Well, fine then, I'll just do things myself, as usual!" Kolee yelled again. Then he found a confiscated Gjallarhorn Guardian rocket launcher that got caught in some netting. He aimed that at a ship and fired. It instantaneously hit a critical area of the ship's engines, causing the craft to spin out of control and crush a thousand Vex below. The other five ships scattered in panic.

Moments later, Emperor Vokuna's ship shot down the fleeing ships for desertion and he muttered, "Traitors, all of them" as he and Batacul chased Variks the Great Deceiver down.

"Sir, are you sure this is the wisest course of action?" the Captain told his Emperor. "The Vex are annihilating our forces, and we are running out of EMPs, so perhaps we should retreat."

"Direct all of our power against that stationary defense system," Vokuna said, having had time to study the Vex fleet up close. "It contains several Vex Minds and Gate Lords. If it is destroyed, I estimate that up to a quarter of the remaining enemy forces could shut down, giving us enough time to kill the Great Deceiver, capture a Guardian or two, and bring them back to the Cabal so that they may assist us in extracting information from them."

"Are you sure, my lord? The Great Deceiver is eluding us while we sit here."

"DO IT NOW!" Vokuna snarled. "We will have time to destroy him later. I will not ask you again."

"As you wish."

"Fire!"

All of the remaining EMP energy stored on the ship was directed towards the main Vex ship as it loomed over them all. It seemed as though all that energy was wasted as the ship continued to decimate the majority of the remaining Fallen ships. But with a great groan the ship stopped in its tracks and then keeled over, then gave off a metallic death screech like the rest of the Vex were prone to do and crashed into the Mercury's steel surface.

VVVVVV

"Wrap this around your waist, yes?!" Variks said to Kolee as he handed him a thick cable.

"Why?"

"Just do it! Then jump and have the Guardians grab on to the cable. It's the only way! Go!"

Kolee nodded and wrapped the cable as tightly as he possibly could, but then was frozen in fear as he saw a field of unblinking, unthinking red eyes staring at him.

"Go, YES?!"

"Go!" Kolee cried, closed his eyes, fired his Gjallahorn randomly to clear the immediate area, and bungee jumped over the Guardians who were now pressed back against each other as still more inched slowly and readied themselves to counterattack.

"I am Variks, friend to Queen, Guardians. Grab on!" Variks yelled.

None of the Guardians gave his proposal a second thought before they double jumped in midair and latched onto the cord. With a jerk of the throttle, Variks accelerated as hard as he could, dodging Fallen and Vex ships alike, until he was nearly free

"AAAAHHHH!" Brian cried when he looked down and his nervous hands slipped. Kolee attempted to grab his hand as the human struggled to find purchase, but the Hunter flew past him and tumbled hundreds of feet to his doom.

"Brian!" Tikva yelled while the cable was reeled in by an automatic mechanism that Kolee had hooked it up to before jumping, and then the ship's doors closed behind all of them.

"There was nothing we could do," Ayiana sighed.

Tikva wanted to debate her on this point, but her heart was still beating too fast. She, the other Guardians, and Kolee soon passed out from exhaustion.

VVVVVV

"The Guardians and the Deceiver have gotten away," Batacul lamented while they slinked away to near orbit as the rest of the Fallen ships also retreated from the overwhelming might of the Vex. "They are headed for the Queen, no doubt. We could never catch them in the Reef if we had a hundred thousand ships, let alone the ten that our current battle group has."

"I wouldn't overestimate the Queen's strength," Vokuna chuckled. "Besides, today we have destroyed much of the Vex's fighting strength, gained the allegiance of the Cabal, and in the process we have gained something far more valuable."

"What is that, my lord?"

"Hundreds of Guardians in one place, each with at least a piece of the location of the Causeway in their heads." He then gestured to the Lighthouse a seemingly endless mass of Vex swarmed at the gates of the, and Vex ships bombarded it to no avail.

"You're not saying what I think you're saying, are you?"

"I am."

"You're insane! We'll all die trying to capture them, even IF we get past the Vex!"

"And you have are a greater fool than I thought," Vokuna growled before lifting Batacul up by his collar and hurtling his once friend out into the cold embrace of deep space. "I, however, will succeed, where you were too short-sighted to see that our victory is nearly at hand."


	8. Chapter 8: Hope Blooms Eternal

**Chapter 8: Hope Blooms Eternal**

Even though Ayiana was incredibly happy to be out of the way of a million angry Fallen and Vex trying to kill her when Variks arrived at the Reef a few hours later, she still had a hard time summoning the strength to stand on the dingy floor of the Fallen ship she'd been evacuated from Mercury in. Meanwhile, her friend Tikva was grinning wildly at the sight and suppressing giggles. How in the world could the lithe Hunter possess so much energy? She'd read hundreds of tomes about everything from the darkest cosmos to the deepest oceans, and lately knew, yet the human who had been her friend for so many weeks remained a mystery.

"Welcome to the Vestian Outpost, Guardians," Variks proclaimed. The other Fallen Dreg that was with them- Ayiana had briefly heard the name "Kolee" mentioned- seemed a little annoyed that Variks didn't address him. She paid that no mind at all, though, as she tentatively stepped out into the bustling port.

Tikva, as per usual, found a dead Servitor's eye and used it as a soccer ball with several of the other Guardians, both from the group that had been on Mercury and from other Fireteams that were likely passing through on the way to the Prison of Elders or some other mission or bounty. Ayiana, not wanting to seem rude by declining directly, truthfully said that she was feeling a little light headed and would rejoin them after getting some fresh air.

Even though this was the Queen's headquarters, this part of the Reef was a lot smaller than Ayiana expected. It was also a lot messier. The Disciples of Osiris held court surrounded by candles- next to flammable objects! The Cryptarch and Variks (along with his friend) stood side by side, chatting loudly over each other to either attract the attention of passing Guardians or engage them in trade once they were reeled in. Xur seemed to be watching from the shadows somewhere (that man always sent a chill up her spine whenever he appeared in the Tower!) And there were lots of boxes covered in tarps, muddy footprints, layers and layers of dust, and the walls were rusty. The aftermath of a tornado would be the kindest word to describe it.

For Ayiana, this was supposed to be home. After all, every Awoken could trace their ancestry back to here. Theirs was a dwelling seeped in death, built as it was from the bones of countless thousands of ships destroyed when they attempted to flee the Collapse, and straddling the line between Light and Darkness that every Awoken walked all their lives. But as decayed and cold as it was, it was the beating heart of her people. Ayiana had not really considered what it meant to be a part of her race, but something about this place felt more alive to her than anything. Was it just her?

Before she could really dwell on this, however, something caught her eye. It was a telescope- battered by age, nowhere near as sophisticated as the ones in the Tower, and with a flat rock propping up one of its legs- but it was still a telescope. She'd recalled how Calore laughed to himself when she'd run up to and used the telescope in the Tower almost the minute she'd set foot in the Tower for the first time so many years ago, and this was no different.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" she asked an Awoken woman, who appeared to be clad in purple robes and was polishing the telescope as best she could. "Is this a pre-Collapse device?" She couldn't tell whether it belonged to the Golden Age or the time before the Traveler's arrival.

"Yes," the woman muttered without turning around.

"Is this available for public viewing? I've never seen a device like this in such pristine condition."

"You may peer through it for one half hour. Goodbye," the other Awoken woman said as stiffly as possible. She only briefly met Ayiana's gaze, then she moved away with the impossibly graceful yet also extremely tightly wound and purposeful gait that Ayiana had observed in them ever since she'd arrived.

Ayiana nodded in the same rigid manner, then carefully removed the dust cap and put her eye to the eyepiece. Even as her breath was taken away by the forlorn curtains of violet light that draped everything, as well as the god rays from what little of the Sun's direct light managed to peek through, however, she was unable to be immersed by astronomy and instead sunk into her own thoughts.

Intellectually, she knew the reason that the other Awoken would treat her with hostility. No one knew where the Earthborn Awoken Guardians fit into the timeline of the Collapse where all Guardians' previous lives were thought to emerge from.

Did they turn tail and flee back towards Earth to save themselves instead of trying to help their brothers and sisters?

Did they abandon the Reef in its early years, when people were clinging to the edge of death? Perhaps they had no stomach for hardship, no loyalty to anyone save themselves.

Or perhaps they didn't flee at all, and the state of being Awoken wasn't a singular geographical event that happened to a particularly chosen race of people, but was instead a higher state of being open to ANYONE. Even the filthy humans.

She'd read many of the hot debates that the Tower scholars had about this peculiar in between group and its ultimate role. For her part, in the past she'd wondered for many sleepless nights what her previous self had been like. She had no memory before she and Dakar had been resurrected, other than the reasonably educated guess that they'd been brother and sister.

She wondered if Tikva had ever thought of her past life. Did she have a husband or wife who loved her? Had she been an artist, scientist, President of the United States? Underneath that effortlessly kind smile and all the optimism and compassion she showed even in the face of Darkness itself, was the newborn worried, as Ayiana was, that she would never find out any of this? That she would never truly know herself, and thereby belong?

Ayiana had seen her wracked with sadness, of course, but not by that issue in particular. Tikva had never once been stared at like a freakish animal by the fellow members of her race. She assumed anyway. Ayiana corrected herself- species. Humans had long ago ceased to care about what they'd called "race," which in reality meant skin color.

By the Traveler. Thinking of Tikva's color meant her mind drifted to the image of her green eyes, calm and warm like the tidal pools of Old Russia she'd sometimes stare at when she needed to escape.

That train of thought abruptly came to a stop when a giant eye invaded her telescope's lens, causing her to gasp.

"That's never been funny, Dakar!" Ayiana cried before turning around and slapping him lightly upside the head.

"I take that to mean that you're not light headed any more, sis," Dakar laughed, rubbing his neck and then saying, "Please, sit down."

Ayiana sighed and then sat next to him on one of those dusty boxes.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Not much."

"Ayiana, I may just be your brother, but I wasn't born yesterday," Dakar grinned and rubbed Ayiana's shoulders. "What's wrong?"

"I wish I could tell you that it was just that I was upset that we lost a Guardian today, or just that I nearly lost everyone I care about."

"And I'd probably believe you. But?"

"But...I just need time to think, that's all," Ayiana blushed.

"You've got it."

It was frustrating for Dakar to feel like he couldn't understand what his best friend in the entire universe was going through. Sure, he could detect in her an emotion she'd been through a few times before. Even though he didn't dare embarrass her by bringing it up. But there was something else...something far more melancholy. Something that made him pause.

And then something hard, round, and metallic whacked him in the back, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to face plant on the ground.

"Sorry," Sarti muttered nervously. "That was a bad throw in."

"Yep," Dakar groaned, his words muffled by dust that he was spitting out. "I can see that."

"You break my brother, you buy him," Ayiana smirked.

Tikva offered to help him up and then asked, "Can you walk alright?"

The Awoken Hunter grimaced, rubbed the base of his spine, and then stretched out his legs and said, "Yeah, yeah, I'll live. That Servitor eye didn't hit me quite as hard. Although maybe you guys can play with something smaller next time."

"Will do," Tikva apologized, and then Ayiana went off to get some herbal remedies for him.

* * *

Once Dakar had been given something for the pain, it quickly became very dark out, even for the Reef. That combined with the fact that all the Guardians had been exhausted from a long day of fighting meant that they all decided to turn in for the night at the temporary sleeping quarters provided by the Queen, with a standing invitation to have lunch

"Guardian, your heart rate is rather elevated right now. You do not seem to have any physical ailments. Tell me, what troubles you?"

"I just had a nightmare, that's all," Tikva said truthfully. It was also a deflection, though.

Getting the message, the dejected robot left the Guardian to her pesky emotions.

Tikva realized that her palms had gripped the sheets tight in her sleep and that those spots were covered in sweat. She could barely remember anything that happened in her dream, exactly, but she did know the fear that she went through the entire time. The fear that had been slowly been coming in in dribs and drabs and now flooded in after the narrow escape from the Burning Shrine.

That one day soon, every little bit of friendship, acceptance, and strength that she'd worked hard to build up would be gone. She'd quickly grown from a shy girl who was missed by nobody when she fell off the Tower and was consigned to the bottom of the Crucible to a capable Hunter who would be missed by SOME body if she fell off the Tower. And was still consigned to the bottom of the Crucible, but that was beside the point.

But all of that could easily be consumed by the ravenous Darkness with a few bullets or blasts or rockets, and then all of those people Tikva had promised to fight to the death to protect would dissolve away into screams in the Void just like had probably happened to Brian today, with her last thought before she did the same thing being how she had failed them all.

Forever.

She would also never get to say the words that would ever properly describe a deeper, warmer, more comforting feeling, one that had been with her for some time now. If only her brain could actully work.

Tikva squeezed her palms into her closed eyelids. This had recently become a kind of reset button for her, a way for her to push back against the white noise that sometimes drifted into and threatened to take over her thoughts. She envied Calore for not needing to sleep as she clawed for anything positive that she could find to help lull her to a good sleep.

She seemed to have a reputation among her Fireteam for being the happy one, the one who would never be fazed. Lately, though, that her smile was a house of cards constantly being threatened by the slightest breeze, her heart a battered warrior wincing while covering up its wounds.

What she didn't dare say was that she now laughed only so that she didn't cry.

Especially in front of her, Tikva thought to herself. It's not that Ayiana wouldn't help her, but Tikva wondered how much of the world Ayiana had had to carry. The Hunter had only part of this crazy enterprise for a few months and she was feeling torn apart every night- even the ones where there weren't any enemies to fight. She couldn't imagine going at this for years on end.

Ayiana had been so kind to her when she was distraught and lying in the gutter back at the Tower, but between fighting back the Darkness and trying not to let whatever had frightened her at The Wish Dragon drive her insane, what kind of friend could she possibly be to Ayiana if she unloaded all her problems on the Awoken too?

She'd seen Ayiana be uncomfortable around her fellow Awoken, when Tikva had secretly hoped that Ayiana returning to the home of her race would be a source of peace and serenity for her. It's not that Tikva didn't feel a connection to her fellow humans, but it was so commonplace as to be mundane. The background radiation of her life, as it were.

In other words, Tikva had no experience from which to give her advice, and so any help she could give would be an empty gesture on her part, at best. What's more, if she couldn't come to grips with her own turmoil, how could she be expected to give any solace to anyone else? And yet she wanted to wrap her arms around her Awoken friend, more than anything, and promise her again that she would always be there, not just in the next life, but this one.

She attempted to turn her mind away from her friend as her face heated up, but now she dwelled on the fact that today, she met Fallen who were actually good people. Ones who were willing to save her life! She didn't harbor any animosity to the race as a whole, but she'd never given them much thought either.

Like her other problems, she didn't want anyone to know about them if she could help it, but she didn't know how to resolve the fact that they existed with her mission to kill too many of them to count. She'd even admired the artwork of the Dreg who was making doodles with his fingers on the caked dust and grease on the inside of the Fallen ship. He had a good appreciation for the physical dimensions and lighting of the scene he drew of the Moon half bathed in light and half in darkness, which considering the crude material he worked with turned out very well.

In that moment, she wondered if they weren't killing a lot of innocent Fallen in their quest to protect the Last City from the Darkness- throwing out the baby with the bathwater, so the phrase she'd heard went. And did the Fallen themselves, even the most evil of them, wrestle with this same question, or did they see the humans as just another enemy, as she had before on several missions? Her young mind began to overthink the question and started to hurt. She wondered what Ayiana might say if she did ask that question.

Probably something with a lot of large words, perhaps a quote from a book she'd read. Tikva laughed as she thought about her Awoken friend furrowing her brow trying to get to the bottom of the conundrum Tikva would hypothetically be posing in the future, then coming up with something to say with a smile, a plan that would allow them to navigate any moral dilemma that they faced along their journey as Guardians.

There it was.

Something positive.

Something beautiful.

All from someone who had eyes full of wisdom both hard earned on the battlefield and long studied, a gentle blue face that comforted Tikva when it reminded her of the sky just above the Tower, purple hair that she was sure was as radiant as the light saturating every inch of the Reef, and that she had enjoyed seeing next to her face when the two of them held each other in the shower. That light would seem bizarre to anyone only used to Earth and its blues and greens, but Tikva reveled in the discovery of something new, mysterious, and exciting.

Tikva breathed a sigh of relief as she closed her eyes, calming her fluttering heart while focusing on an image of Ayiana's face mixed in with the Reef's light, mixed in with the warm and unique light. Finally, she might get some sleep.

* * *

Dakar woke up in the middle of the night, suddenly sensing that the room was a little bit emptier than before. He turned to his right as he rubbed his eyes open and then saw that the second bed, where Ayiana had been sleeping, was unoccupied. He grinned knowingly and then went back to sleep.

"Who is it?" Tikva mumbled at the same moment, when a light knocking at the door roused her before she had a chance to fully sink into sleep.

"Would you like me to find out for you?" her Ghost wondered.

Tikva let out a muffled affirmation into her pillow.

"Hey, Tikva? It's me, Ayiana. Can I come in?"

Tikva muttered a "Sure" as her Ghost disappeared to give the two of them some time alone.

"Whoa, it's cold in here!"

"Really? I hadn't realized that," Tikva said. She figured that was because of her blankets, then asked, "Want to come under the covers?"

Ayiana nodded her thanks and then quickly dived in. The Hunter, however, gasped out, "Coldhandscoldhandscoldhaaaands!" when Ayiana accidentally brushed her hands against Tikva's knees.

"Oops, sorry."

"No, that's alright. Here, let me warm them up for you."

Tikva then pulled up the covers, placed them on Ayiana's hands, and rubbed the blankets over her hands.

"Wow, these really are warm," Ayiana smiled up at her human friend as all different sorts of warmth flooded her body.

The Awoken woman then gently laid her hands on Tikva's pale, slender shoulders just at the nape of her neck. "Better?"

Tikva's throat almost closed up when that happened for reasons that were mystifying to her. "Yeah, much."

"You awake, Tickie?" Ayiana wondered after attempting to sleep for several minutes.

"Yep. What's up?"

"Well, it's just...how do I put this...I've had a lot on my mind lately."

"I'm with you there, Ay. What are you thinking about?"

"Just, um, stuff, I guess."

"If it's just stuff that's keeping you up right now, then maybe we can try to get some sleep and we can talk about this in morning."

Tikva then hugged Ayiana close to herself to soothe the other woman. Even though Ayiana might need more time to tell Tikva what she was thinking, and even if she did Tikva would probably not know what to say, she would not let Ayiana go to sleep afraid and screaming internally the way that Tikva had been for the past few weeks.

Ayiana froze at the sudden contact. Her lungs deflated all at once, she felt every goosebump on her skin rise even though she was the warmest she'd ever been in months, and her lips, mouth, and tongue became dry and cottony, but at least she wasn't shaking from either cold or fear.

The Awoken unconsciously closed her eyes, her right hand drifting into her dearest friend's hair that smelled like the dew on uncut Tower grass while her left drifted down Tikva's back.

"Ay," Tikva bit her lip and squeaked as one slender finger traced up and down her spine.

At that moment, Ayiana realized that to not say what she felt would be dragging herself, and possibly Tikva, through an emotional rollercoaster for no reason. She'd already driven herself nearly to the brink of madness thinking about this moment. She got herself this far, the Warlock reasoned, and now she had to take the plunge.

"It's about you."

"What do you mean, about me? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no, my dear Tickie, it's not that." Something about the way she said that made Tikva's limbs turn into jelly.

"Then what is it?"

"Remember how I promised that I would find a way to rescue you from I the Void, and failing that, even if we were both consumed by the Darkness, I would still be there for you?"

"Yes. And I promised the same thing. You're my friend, and I would do anything for you. That's what friends are for, right?"

"Thanks, um..." Ayiana muttered. "Anyway, so, when you screamed, back there-"

"Sorry about that."

"Please, just let me finish," Ayiana said while putting a thumb to Tikva's lips, which she noticed were trembling a little bit while the Hunter closed her eyes again and nodded.

"I, I know that losing Brian hurt me, as much as it hurt you. And if I lost Calore or Dakar, I would never forgive myself. I will go to hell and back for you, because you're right, that's what friends are for, but I don't ever want to have to do that. You're too sweet, kind, brave, selfless, soft- too, in any and every sense of the word, precious to me to die. If I lost you to the Darkness, even if I survived, I would go on fighting the Darkness, but a part of me would always be cold and numb."

It was clear that all the thoughts Ayiana had been preparing in her head were having trouble coming out through her tears and quivering. Tikva wiped them away with a gentle smile even though she was puzzled about what Ayiana meant by all this.

The Awoken woman's stomach flipped at this gesture. "Let me start again. Today, after we arrived on the Reef..." Tikva nodded, and she continued, "Even though I was safe, thanks in part to you, I was drained. Combine that with the way the other Awoken looked at me and it was very lonely. Does that make any sense?"

Tikva nodded, a little bit more slowly this time. She pressed her forehead against Ayiana's.

"Then I saw your smiling face in my dreams, bouncing on an Intergalactic Death Ball on your head, grinning like a person possessed. I imagined you hugging me after winning a game, then lying on the grass outside the Tower at night counting the passing ships, after on the Moon looking up at the stars after going on that trip together that I promised you. My arms were holding you closely, you were breathing softly in my ear, your laugh and the light in your eyes was more intoxicating than any spirit blooms, and I realized that I'll never feel alone ever again as long as you're with me, like this. So I, um, had to see you, do that for real, and tell you how much you mean to me."

Ayiana stroked her hair, causing the human to press her face gently into Ayiana's hand. Without even really realizing it, Ayiana saw that she had gently maneuvered herself on top of Tikva and was resting her head on Tikva's collarbone, the other hand now at the small of her back and pushing them together as close as possible.

Through her rattling breath and tremorous heart, Tikva lightly clasped Ayiana's back to steady herself and whispered into her friend's ear, "Ayiana, you really are, no exaggeration, the most wonderful person I'll ever meet. No matter how hard it gets, I'll thank the Traveler every day I'm alive, because it's another day that I'm strengthened by your kindness, captivated by your beauty, and blessed to be your friend."

Ayiana smiled. Tikva had been so much better than her with fewer words that it pleasantly surprised the scholarly Warlock.

But for what she wanted to say next, words would fail her anyway. Instead, she touched her nose to Tikva's, then tried to close the distance only to accidentally knock their foreheads together. This caused the Hunter to giggle uncontrollably, which made Ayiana laugh as well.

Ayiana finally composed herself enough to firmly but gently seize Tikva's head in her hands and kiss her.

Tikva's eyes opened suddenly, her vision glazing while all she could hear was the sound of both their heartbeats and breathing mingling together. Her hands gripped Ayiana's shirt harder than she ever thought possible, pulling the other woman towards her with every ounce of her strength as her hurried exhalations were stolen by Ayiana's hungry mouth and tongue.

Tikva then whined "Ayyy" when Ayiana cut off the source of the lightning coursing throughout her entire body all too soon.

"Was that...weird for you? I don't want anything to be weird between us."

"That was about as far from weird as the City is from here," Tikva laughed and stammered at the same time. Then, just to make her point, she threaded her hands through her friend's longer hair with her right hand, propped herself up on her left elbow, and experimentally pecked at the edges of her lips again.

"So, I, I was wondering, um-" the Warlock began to say after a few minutes of kissing.

Ayiana's cheek seemed a hundred times hotter to the gentle caress of Tikva's hand than her own skin felt whenever she pulled out the Golden Gun.

"Go ahead."

"You're are the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on."

Now it was Tikva's turn to blush.

"Th-thank you. So are you."

"And I- I want to be next to you like we were in the shower, before all this madness. That's because, looking at you, here and now...I want to be with you as a lover, not just a friend. My sweet Tikva, my heart belongs to you, and longs to make you feel as wonderful as I do whenever I look at you."

"I- I think I know what you're saying," Tikva panted through her dry throat. She'd had her suspicions about the noises her next door neighbors were making. "And I want that too."

Ayiana wrapped her arms around Tikva again and fulfilled her request. For that one night, every fear, every enemy waiting to fight them, all the grief and anguish and darkness within them both melted away.


	9. Chapter 9: Through the Dark

**Chapter 9: Through the Dark**

The last time the Speaker had taken the podium, he had announced that the Black Garden had been destroyed by the brave efforts of the Guardians. He could only wish that it was good news that brought him out onto that Traveler-damned stage now. Thousands of hopeful eyes staring at him, boring through his soul beneath normally statuesque helmets only made what he had to say that much harder.

"Yesterday, we few who fight for the Light against the encroachment of the Darkness have suffered a great and terrible loss. One among many that we have endured with all the strength that the Traveler has imbued in us, to be sure, but today's defeat resulted in the destruction of the Crucible arena in the Burning Shrine and the Lighthouse, with it a total concession of Mercury to the Vex, and, most dire, the deaths of hundreds of Guardians, lost to the Void."

The hushed murmurs amongst themselves ate away at Alex's bones in a way that he hadn't felt in years. And yet he managed to summon just enough strength to raise his hand, and with that simple gesture silence the crowd.

"The worst threat of all, however, comes from what we discovered just hours ago. That is why you are all here now."

Alex sighed as he remembered how dozens of Guardians had been laughing and playing Intergalactic Death Ball on the lawn. He would've liked to thank the Hunter named Tikva and her friends for inventing that game and bringing a little bit of humor back to the Tower, if he hadn't already known that they were on the Reef, safe after evacuating Mercury, some of the few Guardians to make it off alive.

"We knew that the Fallen Archon Vokuna, self proclaimed Emperor of a New Empire, has been seeking a mythical way to destroy the Traveler called the Causeway. Some had thought it to be a myth. I am here to tell you that unfortunately, this critical weakness in our defenses is all too real. When the Black Garden was destroyed, a large amount of Light that had been siphoned away from the Traveler was suddenly returned to it. As you know, this allowed us to create more Ghosts and recruit more Guardians.

"However, the Traveler was too badly damaged to return to its full operating power even with all of this new strength. I have done much research these past few weeks and I now believe that deep within the Traveler lies the blueprints to the Interplanetary Hypergate System. This was a series of portals, of which this Causeway was a part, that were created which would have made travel within the Solar System instantaneous, and helped expand the reach of humanity all over the galaxy. Before it could be completed, however, the armies of the Darkness attacked and ended the Golden Age.

"The new Light that the Traveler was restored with overwhelmed many of its core systems and consequently created a memory leak which, when the same Light was used to create new Guardians, embedded their minds with copies of the blueprints for the Hypergates. Somehow Vokuna was able to find something out about the Causeway and the other portals and wants to use it to attack the City, perhaps even circumventing the series of storms and walls that are our last defenses and directly attacking us.

"We only know," he added gravely, "that whenever Vokuna captures Guardians he attempts to use whatever means he can to extract this information from their minds.

"Until we figure out the location of the Causeway and how to destroy it for good, we cannot be sure if he has captured any Guardians, how close he is to finding out where it is, and what. From now on, all Guardians with non-Veteran status must receive dispensation directly from their Vanguards to leave their currently assigned duty locations, and all Guardians' Ghosts will be required to report their location every ten minutes. This is for the protection of yourselves and everyone in the City. Dismissed."

Some of the Guardians grumbled about all these restrictions as they dispersed, but the Speaker didn't care. Alex, however, could barely hold himself together in time to walk from the podium to his bed.

At least, he thought, at least the worst threat that the Guardians would ever face had ended.

How wrong the Speaker was.

VVVVVV

Two months after the Battle of the Burning Shrine...

Tikva awoke with a yawn, stretching her pale arms to the heavens as her robe and blankets hung loosely around her body. It had been two months since her, Ayiana, Calore-14, Dakar, Misraj, and Sarti had arrived at the Reef and been formed the Queen and Petra Venj with the approval of the Speaker as the Queen's Spear, a special joint force of the City and the Reef dedicated to policing the Reef and defending the interests of both forces there.

Fortunately, other than dying over and over again in the Crucible arena named the Ghost Ship and dealing with drunk Guardians, Tikva hadn't seen much action since the lockdown order on new Guardians. Things had been quiet while Vokuna's Imperial forces were held at a standstill. Plus, they'd been allowed to stay in a luxurious house near the Palace free of charge and, she thought to herself, the sheets were just divine.

It was a little weird that her Ghost was sitting there, watching her with one unblinking eye, but that was something she'd mostly gotten used to. Besides, Tikva and her Ghost had an understanding that the latter would cover for her by reporting fake locations during...more private moments. It had done so willingly nearly every night since they'd been here, so she couldn't ask it to shut off at other times.

Instead she decided to focus her attention on Ayiana, whose arms were wrapped around the smaller woman's stomach as she served as Tikva's big spoon. Tikva sighed to herself as she spun around and faced Ayiana, wondering while the Warlock's serene and beautiful blue face softly breathed on her own what she'd had done to deserve her Awoken girlfriend.

VVVVVV

That first night on the Reef had been magical, but Tikva told herself that she would understand if Ayiana wanted to keep things professional between them after that point.

It would hurt, sure, but she'd heard plenty of gossip about Guardians who relieved their stress with each other only to act like nothing had happened. After all, with the threat of death hanging over them constantly, any romantic connections had to be ephemeral at most, or else youthful love one day could lead to soul destroying grief the next.

Soon, though, they saw each other often enough that every night Tikva would lie awake in nervous anticipation that turned to relief whenever her angel visited, gliding through her room like the wind before enfolding her with all the warmth of the sun taking all of her troubles and petty concerns away with a simple kiss.

And then, a month ago, something amazing happened.

While she was playing soccer with a Servitor's head with a half dozen other Guardians, someone had snuck up on her and clapped her hands over the Hunter's helmet. Tikva had just gotten out of another disappointing defeat during her daily dose of the Crucible, so her first instinct was to whirl back and punch whoever it was.

"It's me, stranger. Sorry to startle you."

"Ha ha, very funny, Ay," Tikva replied while the other snickered behind her. "What's this all about?"

"Just come with to your ship and you'll see."

"Wait, why are you blindfolding me?" Now they were guffawing at her.

"It's a surprise. Trust me."

"Alright," the human said as her Ghost whirred just above her head while her fellow Guardian led her by the hand. Clearly the devious little robot was in on whatever Ayiana had planned, otherwise it would have told her what was going on.

Later, over the radio between their ships, Tikva said, "This seems like it's a long ways away from the Reef. You know we've been ordered by the Speaker not to leave our posts, right? What's so important that..."

"Like I said, Tickie, it's. A. Surprise. If I told you, then it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it? Besides, since when did YOU become so concerned about following the rules?"

"Maybe I'm a bad influence and I've rubbed off on you."

"Yes, you have, literally!"

"Oh! I walked right into that one, didn't I?"

"Yep, yep you did."

"Walked right into what?" Tikva's puzzled Ghost wondered as the two women laughed their heads off until their ships landed.

"Humans," Ayiana's Ghost replied.

Once Tikva tentatively stepped out of the ship, the sandy ground beneath her felt very familiar, and she deployed an uncontrollable grin.

"OK, you can take off the blindfold now," dulcet tones encouraged her.

"Oh wow!" Tikva gasped as her eyes confirmed her suspicions and she jumped up and down like a maniac. "We're on the Moon again! YAAAAAAAAAAAY!"

"I take it my surprise worked," Ayiana grinned.

"Oh, I'm definitely surprised," Tikva said as she jumped up into her taller Fireteam companion's embrace, her legs popping up to her back as thighs as Ayiana hugged her. "But what are we doing here?"

"Well, I remember a certain beautiful woman eyeing something delicious in the market and asking me what that strange creature was," Ayiana smiled.

Tikva blushed as she remembered her mouth watering when Ayiana described the rare time she'd eaten it. Then Ayiana continued, "I had to pull a few strings and take some bounties for the Reef, but I managed to get this specially ordered."

Tikva frowned at the basket that Ayiana held in her free hand, so the Awoken woman said, "This just arrived today, fresh from the American Dead Zone and prepared by Jai's." The latter being the name of the restaurant that

"A whole lobster?! Really, you didn't have to do all this for me!"

"Oh, it was no trouble at all."

"You're the best!" the Hunter giggled before taking off both their helmets and kissing Ayiana.

"Much as I'm enjoying tasting you"- this earned another blush from Tikva- "let's eat our food before it gets cold. Think you can help me set up our spread?"

Then the two Guardians headed into an abandoned building, and other than the occasional Fallen or Hive they had to shoot, they were able to enjoy each other's company and laugh about their shared frustration while trying get any actual meat from the lobster's many segmented armored shell.

"That was delicious. Thank you for this, and for the trip, but I'm almost too full to stand. Not sure how we're going to get back here"

"Well, that's too bad, because I was going to ask you to dance with me."

"OK, stomach break over," Tikva said and shot up like a rocket.

Ayiana almost fell over in her chair laughing, but she composed herself enough to stand and say to her Ghost, "Hit it."

"Oh, ahem- yo, DJ Ghost here, and I be dropping these phat beats, motherfuckers," Ayiana's Ghost said in its usual robotic tone.

While Tikva laughed, Ayiana wrapped her arms around her smaller lover's waist. The Ghost turned on the music, digitally copied from a recording of one of the last surviving pre-Golden Age songs stored in the Library.

Then the two of them touched foreheads before Ayiana, whilst slowly swaying to the beat with Tikva looking up at her with that smile that made her heart flutter, began to sing-

"Don't know much about history

Don't know much about biology

Don't know much about a science book

Don't know much about the French I took

"But I do know that I love you

And I know that if you love me too

What a wonderful world this would be"

At that part, Tikva forgot how to think of anything but the way Ayiana touched her face as she was serenaded, her own hot breath against the Awoken's slender neck, and her tears at the incomprehensible joy she felt at this moment.

"Don't know much about geography

Don't know much trigonometry

Don't know much about algebra

Don't know what a slide rule is for

But I do know that one and one is two

And if this one could be with you

What a wonderful world this would be"

During the words "could be with you," Ayiana tilted Tikva's chin up to look directly into her brown eyes, almost as if... Even though Tikva always felt good when Ayiana was near her, never did she actually think... No, it wasn't possible. Tikva felt she was nowhere near good enough to be there for her in the ways she'd thought of.

"Now I don't claim to be an A student

But I'm trying to be

So maybe by being an A student baby

I can win your love for me"

The way Ayiana said "baby" while holding her as tightly as possible couldn't have been a coincidence.

"Don't know much about history

Don't know much biology

Don't know much about a science book

Don't know much about the French I took

"But I do know that I love you

And I know that if you love me too

What a wonderful world this would be-"

Ayiana's and the music came to a stop once Tikva kissed her.

"This has been wonderful, my dear Ayiana. Thank you."

"It has, but I suppose I've been beating around the bush a little bit. I was going to say something a little bit more romantic..."

"More romantic than all of this?" was Tikva's immediate thought.

"But I suppose I'll just come out and say it. I love you with all my heart, Tikva, and I want you to be my girlfriend."

"Right back atcha, babe," Tikva had replied and then winked, her brain short circuiting from what Ayiana had just said. At first she thought that was the furthest thing from smooth, but her reply made Ayiana laugh again, and then they were both happy.

Tikva decided then and there that, even if she wasn't the strongest or the bravest or the smartest Guardian, even if no one else would remember her for her actions, she would do everything in her power to be the one to always make Ayiana smile like this.

VVVVV

That same happiness was etched on Ayiana's face just like it had been every day since they'd officially gotten together when she closed her eyes.

Of course, just like any couple, they were the last ones to figure it out. The only one who hadn't been happy about this development was Misraj, since she'd lost a lot of Glimmer to Dakar in the bet they'd had going.

And Tikva was completely lost in studying every inch of her face, chin, nose...that was until her lips started trembling beneath their purple chapstick. Tikva knew what that meant and sprang into action, straddling her and pinning her arms and legs.

Both of their nightmares were somewhat less frequent now that time had gone by since their last battle. Still, they each woke each other up in the middle of the night at least once a week. They had a system now, though. They'd agreed that if one of them woke up, they should restrain the other until they calmed down.

"No, no, please! I don't want to know any more! Don't make me! I don't want to knoooow!" Ayiana yelled. She repeated this phrase over and over, just like she had every day for a week, and it was starting to bother Tikva.

This had worked out so far, and much as Tikva hated to see Ayiana in agony like this, it gave her some time to say everything she wanted, no matter her fear of tripping over her words.

"Hey, hey, wake up, babe. It's just me. I'm here. Shhhh," Tikva started to say as Ayiana started to thrash her arms and legs even harder.

Like she'd done many times before, Tikva brought the blankets over both their heads and brought out the big guns with a kiss.

She kept kissing her while whispering, "Whatever's haunting you in this dream" (neither of them liked to talk about what they dreamt) "you have no reason to be afraid, my love."

Tikva stroked her face tenderly before saying, "Not while I'm here. I realize now that I was brought back to this world by the Traveler so that I could be by your side, be the one to try to keep you safe. And you know what? I get the strength to stand up to any foe when you're smiling, so please, wake up and smile for me, and we'll drive back the Darkness."

"As you wish," Ayiana cooed when she woke up and traced a finger down Tikva's back. Tikva wondered if she really heard all that.

Both things made her gasp, and then she said, "Morning. You look a little..." Tikva was going to say frazzled, but then just said, "Tired. You should try to get some sleep."

"With this heavenly view?" Ayiana chuckled and glanced down at Tikva. "I don't want to ever sleep again."

Tikva pretended to be offended as she slapped Ayiana's face with a pillow. "You know, comments like that merit a severe punishment."

"Oh? Of what kind?" Ayiana grinned, her breath hitching while her beloved traced a finger on her collarbone.

"Well, it might be counterproductive of me since maybe you'll like it, and if I remember correctly, the point of a punishment ISN'T to make one feel good...but I have a few things in mind," Tikva purred.

Just as Tikva kissed her neck and was about to enact her sentence, her Ghost said, "There's a message for you."

"Can it wait?"

The Ghost ignored her and said, "It's from Petra Venj. She says that everyone in the Queen's Spear is needed urgently."

"Why, what happened?" Tikva trembled. Whenever they were summoned, it was never good.

"Reports are very scattered, but Oryx, father of Crota, invaded our solar system a few hours ago, while you both were asleep. Apparently, without consulting anyone, the Queen and the Prince led part of the Awoken fleet in a secret strike against his colossal ship, the Dreadnought, but they were wiped out. The Queen is presumed missing, and Oryx has used his power to possess the majority of the forces of the Fallen, Hive, Vex, and even the Cabal and convert into an army called the Taken."

"You want us to find the Queen and face Oryx and his...Taken on the Dreadnought?" Ayiana said grimly while they started getting dressed. From the legends she'd read of Oryx, that wouldn't be easy. Especially if even Vokuna could not withstand his might.

"Some Veteran Guardians have already defeated him," said Ayiana's ghost. "And search parties have already been sent to look for the Queen, although you may need to help them later. Instead...instead..."

"Instead, what?" Tikva wondered.

"Instead, you'll have to help defend the Reef. Meet up with Petra at her vendor's station. The Taken army will be here in less than an hour."

VVVVVV

"Some Emperor you are," Brian spat through the blood that had recently been forced from his mouth by a Captain's punch. "All you rule is this broken ship that's been drifting through space for the past five hours, with barely a skeleton crew keeping it afloat while an entire Hive fleet is hounding your pathetic asses."

"I AM THE EPIC WAFFLE!" yelled the other Guardian next to him.

"Would you both be quiet?! For the last time, where is the Causeway?" Vokuna demanded and then injected the mixture into Brian's veins again. As much as he hated the insolence of the Guardian ever since they'd captured him on Mercury, he was correct. Oryx had come, enslaved half his forces, and destroyed the other half. His Empire had crumbled in a matter of hours. But he could yet outshine the legend of Skolas among the few Fallen who remained. All he had to do was get this Bri-An person to tell him what he knew.

A young Dreg keeping guard over the Guardians seemed to wince for some reason. He had had his suspicions...but no matter. Now all he could do was wait.

"You really thought that would work on me? You've tried this for two months and I haven't broken. I'll never betray the Travel-Serdce možet byt' dostignuto čerez dolgij put' čerez temnyj, Serdce možet byt' dostignuto čerez dolgij put' čerez temnyj, Serdce možet byt' dostignuto čerez dolgij put' čerez temnyj, Serdce možet byt' dostignuto čerez dolgij put' čerez temnyj."

Vokuna turned to his Captain and said, "Tell that- Ahamkara, was it?- who lent his scales today that I have him to thank. I knew I needed diluted Light from the blood of Guardians like I used to bend the Hive, but until today I didn't realize that the missing ingredient was this creature's skin."

"But sir," the Captain said, "he's speaking nonsense. How will we find the Causeway?"

"It's better than the nonsense he was speaking before. I've heard that dialect of the human language before. Take me to the Cosmodrome. We're going to try and get the information we need from another source."

With the Taken about to attack, it was a desperate gamble and he knew it. But sometimes gambles won wars, and if he harnessed the power of the Causeway and destroyed the Traveler, he could use its spoils to drive back this Oryx once and for all.

Just then, however, an explosion rocked the side of the ship. He could barely see them outside the viewport, but a Taken ship three times the size of his had just materialized in front of him with a hundred fighters supporting it and was about to open fire.

"Your Majesty, we're under attack again! Should we ready the main cannons and attempt to drive them back, or engage the sublight engines and try to flee?" someone asked Vokuna over the comms.

"No, make the jump to the Cosmodrome through darkspace, and don't delay! Meanwhile, draw all power to the forward shields. We cannot afford to let what we've obtained fall into the wrong hands."

"This futile alliance with your 'Empire' has brought doom about all our heads!" cried the emissary from the Cabal Empire as he lumbered his 800 pounds of armor and muscle forward and roared in the Archon's face. "Take me back to Mars to speak with MY Emperor- an actual Emperor- to establish why the Cabal command is unresponsive, or I will rip your puny head off where you stand."

"The only trip I'll be taking you on is to the Void," Vokuna snarled and blasted his head off with a shotgun. The other Cabal on the ship opened fire, and then the hungry, tired and outnumbered Fallen soldiers uncaged the enslaved Hive they'd trapped.

"Tell that Dreg to get to the bridge and tell them to get a move on!"

"He's not here, and neither are the Guardians."

"Well, don't just stand there, you idiot! FIND THEM before the Taken do!"

Too late, Vokuna realized that a small fighter had disappeared into darkspace, likely carrying the traitorous Dreg and the prisoners. But before he could try to track them, his ship vanished as well, headed for the original coordinates.

VVVVVV

The Taken Minotaur rushed up to the bridge of his master's ship and panted, "Sir, the Fallen ship that we were about to attack has just warped away."

"Good. Have your fighters put the Vex tracking probes on them as I instructed?"

"Yes. They're headed for the Cosmodrome. One ship, however, got away before we could mark them and is currently unaccounted for. Should we pursue them?"

"Pay neither of them any heed. This was a little side project. I was entrusted by Oryx himself with destroying the stubborn thorn in his side that is the Darkstriders, and that is what I shall do, but we will still endeavor to keep track of them."

Darkstrider was the Taken name for the Awoken, referring to the fact that their allegiance lay neither with the Light nor the Darkness. And he meant to assault the Reef. Soon.

"About Oryx."

"What do you mean, about Oryx?"

"Something happened."

"What. Happened?"

"Oryx has been killed."

"WHAT?! How dare you bring such blasphemy in my court!" Then Thu-Rakal, Lieutenant of Oryx, stepped forward into the light, revealed his true form as an Ogre, and used his laser eye to burn the Minotaur to a crisp.

"He was, sir," a Goblin said as it nervously looked at the charred corpse of the Minotaur. "During a surprise attack on the Dreadnought. By a Guardian, or perhaps Guardians, unknown."

"IMPOSSIBLE."

"Well, the reports are unconfirmed, so I'll be sure to get you more information."

"You do that. In the meantime, inform the crew that the assault on the Darkstrider hideout will continue on schedule."

VVVVVV

Kolee sighed as his ship arrived safely in the Reef's airspace, both unconscious Guardians in tow. If he ever got out of here alive, the tired, bruised, and war-weary Dreg decided he would kill Variks for even suggesting infiltrating Vokuna's capital ship.

But when he looked outside the window and saw the enormous Taken ship from earlier on his tail, he screamed into the console and realized he only had himself to blame for getting in this particular mess as he attempted to get inside the Vestian Outpost as quickly as possible.


End file.
